Harry's Allergy to Magic
by Healer Pomfrey
Summary: Harry somehow has problems with magical potions and spells. How will this affect his seven Hogwarts years? A McGonagall and Snape mentor Harry story. Knowledge of books 1-5 is inevitable for the understanding. AU, partly OOC, partly sick!Harry HP/HG
1. Chapter 1

**Harry's Allergy to Magic by Healer Pomfrey  
**

**Chapter 1**

When Harry returned from an especially long Quidditch practise in the snow a week after the Christmas holidays of his first Hogwarts year, he noticed immediately that he had caught a cold. Since the Dursleys had taught him not to bother anyone when he was feeling unwell, he tried to hide how bad he felt from his housemates as well as he could. However, he wasn't able to fool his Head of House. When Harry sat in the Transfiguration classroom in the morning, Professor McGonagall saw immediately that his cheeks were unnaturally flushed, his eyes were glazed over, and he had a painful expression on his face whenever he tried to swallow.

Harry tried so hard to concentrate on the Transfiguration task that he didn't notice the teacher standing in front of him and flinched back badly when he all of a sudden felt a cold hand of his forehead.

"Mr. Potter, I won't do anything to you, but you're ill and belong into bed. Please go to the hospital wing," McGonagall told him in a gentle but firm voice, causing the child to panic.

"I'm fine, Professor. Please let me stay here," Harry replied, feeling very anxious about going to the hospital wing, although he couldn't tell why.

"No, you have at least a bad cold and you're running quite a fever, Mr. Potter. Madam Pomfrey will give you a potion, which will make you feel better immediately. Ms. Granger, would you please accompany Mr. Potter to the hospital wing?"

"Of course, Professor," Hermione replied, motioning Harry to follow her.

"Hermione, I'm fine. I needn't go to the hospital wing," Harry insisted, while they were walking through the empty halls. Unfortunately, he couldn't help his voice beginning to fail.

The girl stopped walking to throw Harry an exasperated look. "Harry, what's wrong with you? You're ill and need to get a potion from Madam Pomfrey. It's not so bad. She is really nice. Remember I had to go to see her two weeks ago. But the Pepper-up potion made my cold go away immediately."

"It's just... Hermione, please don't tell anyone, but I've never been to a Healer or a doctor before," Harry whispered hesitantly.

"Are you afraid? You don't need to, Harry. As I said Madam Pomfrey is really nice, and I'm going to stay with you until you're better, if she lets me."

By the time they reached the hospital wing, Harry was feeling so miserable that he couldn't care less about what was going to happen. Hermione led him to one of the crispy white beds and went to fetch the Mediwitch.

Harry stood anxiously next to the bed, worrying, '_What will she do to me? I don't want that. It's just a cold, and colds always go away after a few days without doing anything. It's not even really bad this time_.'

After a quick glance in his flushed face Madam Pomfrey told him, "Please make yourself comfortable on the bed; you will have to stay here for a while." Ignoring Harry's terrified expression she waved her wand at the child, clucking disapprovingly. "Don't tell me you attended classes until now with such a bad cold, you foolish child."

"Professor McGonagall sent us here," Hermione informed the Healer, causing her to give the girl an appreciating look.

Pomfrey summoned two phials, explaining to Harry that one was a fever reducer and the other one Pepper-up potion. "Please drink both, Mr. Potter. Afterwards you can try to sleep for a while, and I'll probably be able to release you around dinnertime," she said sternly, gently supporting his back when he sat up to take his potions.

Harry obediently gulped down the potions and gratefully thanked the Mediwitch when she gently helped him to lie down again.

"It might take a few minutes until the potions take effect," the Healer informed him, shooing Hermione out of the hospital wing at the same time.

"I'll come back after classes," the girl told Harry, who closed his eyes, falling asleep within seconds.

HP HEALER POMFREY HP

Harry woke up a few hours later to an icy cold hand on his forehead. When he lazily opened his eyes he saw his Head of House sitting on the edge of his bed.

"Hello Professor," he said hoarsely. "Are classes already over?"

"No Harry, I have a free period during the last afternoon class; so I thought I'd come and see how you are. Are you feeling any better?" she asked doubtfully, noticing that his skin felt even warmer than in the morning.

"Not really," Harry replied, wondering why he was feeling much worse than before. '_Hermione and Pomfrey said I should be all right by now, but only my throat feels better_,' he mused, unaware of the fact that McGonagall threw him a concerned look.

"I'll get Madam Pomfrey for you," the teacher said and went to fetch her friend and colleague.

Two minutes later, Pomfrey fussed over Harry, waving her wand at him several times. When she put her wand away, she had a very stern expression on her face. "Neither potion worked, and his condition is worse than before," she explained to the teacher before turning to Harry. "Mr. Potter, do you know if you have any allergies to special potions ingredients?"

Harry gave her an astonished look, before he croaked, "No Madam Pomfrey, but my throat isn't as sore as it was anymore."

"So it helped at least a bit." Pomfrey sighed in confusion and told McGonagall, "Mr. Potter is the only student of whom I didn't receive a card with his medical history."

McGonagall gave Harry a sympathetic look. "Harry, where did your relatives take you when you were ill, to a Healer or to a doctor?" she asked gently.

"They never took me anywhere, but everything went away after a while," Harry admitted in a small voice, causing the two adults to exchange horrified looks.

"Minerva, under this condition I'd like to get your permission to do a complete health check on him as soon as he is completely recovered from his cold," Pomfrey said thoughtfully.

"Of course I'll give you the permission," McGonagall replied, unaware of the fact that Harry was inwardly panicking.

'_What if she notices all my scars that are hidden under my shirts from where Uncle Vernon beat me?_' Harry mused. '_They will all know that I'm a freak_.'

"I'm going to call Severus," Pomfrey finally spoke up in determination after once more waving her wand at Harry. "He has to examine his blood and tell me if he could be allergic against certain ingredients. I hope Severus will have an idea why the potions don't work as they should and what we could give him instead."

"Is there anything I could do?" McGonagall asked gently.

"You could try to get his fever down by making leg compresses the Muggle way, Minerva. His fever is spiking, but I dare not give him any more of the fever reducer."

"All right," McGonagall agreed, following her friend's advice, while the Mediwitch headed to the fireplace to call the Potions Master for help.

HP HEALER POMFREY HP

Harry groaned inwardly when all of a sudden a black clothed figure strode into the room and he recognized Professor Snape. '_Oh no_,' he mused. '_He hates me so much; he'll have even more reason to ridicule me seeing me like this_.' He instinctively moved closer to the side of his bed, where his Head of House was bathing his hot face with a cool cloth.

"What's wrong, Harry? It's only Professor Snape," she told him in a small voice, giving the child a confused look.

"He hates me so much," Harry whispered back, while the Potions professor merely greeted them by a small movement of his head and began to wave his wand at the boy.

"No Harry, that's definitely not true," McGonagall replied soothingly, adjusting the cloth to his forehead.

So far, Harry had calmly endured and partly even enjoyed his Head of House's fussing and comforting; however, when Professor Snape suddenly pointed his wand at his head, Harry flinched back badly.

"It's all right, Harry. Professor Snape is merely taking your temperature," McGonagall explained in a soothing voice, wondering why the child was so jumpy.

"His fever is much too high for the cold he has," Snape spoke to Pomfrey, who had just arrived to join the group, in a businesslike way."

"It was moderate when he arrived here this morning," she replied in obvious concern. Do you think the potions can have harmed him?"

"They obviously have, although I can't understand why. I've never heard of such a phenomenon. The only ingredient that both potions have in common is moon fern," Snape replied thoughtfully, before he once more waved his wand at the child in a complicated wand movement. "No, he's not allergic against moon fern," he finally stated. "I have to examine his blood. Maybe I can find something out that way. Otherwise you'll have to take him to St. Mungo's."

When Pomfrey gave him an approving nod he pulled a tiny phial out of his robe pocket and gently took Harry's right hand in his own. "Don't worry, Potter, I'll merely take a few drops of your blood. It won't hurt," he told the child in a soft, silky voice.

"All right," Harry mumbled automatically, feeling himself being driven to the answer by the soothing voice, and watched in anxious amazement as the small phial became filled with a red liquid. '_Is that my blood?_' he mused in confusion.

Professor Snape pocketed the phial, promised to be back as soon as possible, and left the room, leaving a rather disturbed Mediwitch, a concerned Head of House, and a sick child behind.

An instant later, Hermione entered the room, stopping dead in her tracks when she reached the small group. "What's wrong?" she asked worriedly, looking from one to the other.

"The potions didn't work properly and probably even aggravated his condition," McGonagall told her quickly, motioning the girl to take a seat, before she explained the details.

"I have some Muggle medicine in my room, which my mother gave me before I came here. Maybe you could try to give him the fever reducing medicine, if he can't take potions at the moment," Hermione suggested, turning to Madam Pomfrey.

"Maybe that would be a solution, at least for the moment," the Mediwitch replied thoughtfully.

HP HEALER POMFREY HP

With Hermione's Muggle fever reducer, Harry's fever finally broke, and two days later, his condition had improved so far that Madam Pomfrey gave in to his begging and grudgingly released him from the hospital wing.

Unfortunately, Professor Snape hadn't been able to find anything out, and he and the Mediwitch decided to take Harry to St. Mungo's for an examination on Saturday.

On Friday evening, Harry was just having dinner together with his Housemates, when a school owl descended to the Gryffindor table, handing Harry a small parchment.

'_Mr. Potter, please come to the hospital wing for a small check-up at 7:45 tomorrow morning. Don't be late; we have an appointment at St. Mungo's at eight o'clock. Professor Snape will accompany us. P. Pomfrey_.'

Harry pushed his plate away, having completely lost his appetite. '_To the hospital_,' he thought, horrified. '_What if they see my scars or..._'

Hermione's voice pulled him out of his reverie. "Harry, what's wrong?" she asked softly.

Harry automatically handed her the letter. Hermione sighed. "Harry, do you want me to accompany you? I can ask Professor McGonagall if I may go with you." Noticing that her friend's face had turned completely white, she didn't even wait for his answer but left her seat and approached the head table.

"I'm afraid it's not possible that you accompany Mr. Potter, Ms. Granger," McGonagall told the girl. "However, I can assure you that Madam Pomfrey and Professor Snape will stay with Harry the whole time. They will never leave him alone."

Hermione sighed. "Professor, if you were with him, it would be all right I suppose, but Harry doesn't trust Professor Snape, which I can fully understand, seeing how he treats him in class."

McGonagall sighed. "Ms. Granger, please tell Mr. Potter to come to my office right after dinner. I'll talk to him."

"All right," Hermione grudgingly agreed and returned to the Gryffindor table.

* * *

HP

_Well, I hope you liked it so far. When I began to write this story, I intended to write a one-shot. However, since I'm already at page fifty, I've decided to split it up into a few chapters. _

_As you know, I'm not a native speaker of English; please excuse my mistakes or tell me, so that I can correct them._

_All recognizable characters belong to __Mrs. Rowling__, and I am not earning anything by writing this story._


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Twenty minutes later, Harry knocked at the door to his Head of House's office, glad when he was called in within seconds.

"Harry, please take a seat," McGonagall said friendly, offering him a ginger biscuit, which he politely declined. The teacher gave him a piercing look and asked, "Harry, what's wrong?"

"Nothing, Professor," Harry lied.

McGonagall sighed. "Harry, please don't lie to me. Just like Madam Pomfrey I only want to help you, which I can only do if you tell me the truth. What's the problem with going to the hospital for a few hours together with Madam Pomfrey and Professor Snape?"

As much as the professor prodded and asked, Harry wouldn't tell her the truth. Knowing that it was a lie, she finally accepted his explanation that he was afraid to go to the hospital because he had never been to a Healer or a doctor before.

"Concerning Professor Snape, Harry," she changed the topic, "he doesn't hate you, but he has to keep up appearances in front of others, especially in front of his Slytherins. Please believe me when I tell you that your mother was his best friend and that she made Professor Snape and me your unofficial godparents when you were born. We both knew you very well as a baby; however, unfortunately we're not officially your godparents because your father wouldn't have allowed it, so that we couldn't prevent Professor Dumbledore from placing you with the Dursleys."

Harry slowly turned his eyes to the teacher. "Will I..." Feeling slightly uncomfortable with what he was going to ask, he cleared his throat. "Will I have to return to the Dursleys in summer?"

McGonagall sighed. "As long as we don't have a cogent reason to declare the Dursleys as unfit guardians, I'm sure that Professor Dumbledore will insist that you have to go back over the summer." Seeing how Harry's face fell, she suddenly remembered something that Severus had told her before about Slytherin students, who didn't want to see the Mediwitch. She gasped inwardly, sitting upright in her chair.

"Harry," she asked in an even softer voice, "The Dursleys didn't abuse you, did they?"

'_Abuse?_' Harry thought, terrified. '_What does that mean?_'

"I don't think so, Professor," he replied uncertainly.

"Did they feed you three times a day, Harry?" McGonagall asked softly, looking at his thin figure.

Harry thought for a moment. "Well, most days I was allowed to eat, and if I cooked the meals, I could even get any leftovers. I can cook better than Aunt Petunia," he added proudly, causing the teacher to throw him a terrified glance.

"Harry, did they ever hurt you?" she asked softly, looking straight into his face.

Harry hesitantly averted his eyes to the floor. "Only when I deserved it," he said slowly, "but most times they just locked me into my cupboard and were glad to have the freak out of their way." Only after he said that, he noticed what he had just told his professor and pressed a hand against his mouth, giving the teacher a horrified look to see if she had heard what he had blurted out without thinking.

However, Professor McGonagall had understood everything. "Your cupboard?" she asked incredulously, causing Harry to tell her about how his Hogwarts letter had been addressed. "Oh Harry, I'm sorry, but the letters are addressed magically," she explained, resolving to check the addresses of the new first year students in the future.

During the rest of the evening, while they were having tea together, which McGonagall had unobtrusively laced with a calming draught, Harry finally admitted about the scars and other injuries, which he was hiding, and about his fear that it would come out at the hospital.

"Harry, I'll tell Madam Pomfrey about it, so that she can see to it that the Healers don't perform any spells, which would make the abuse visible, but I promise that we won't tell anyone else at the moment. However, I suggest informing Professor Snape as well, because he will support us when we try to convince the Headmaster that you can't return to the Dursleys in the summer. He has more experience with abusive families than I."

"All right, Professor; I'll leave it to you," Harry finally agreed, feeling very relieved after speaking about the matter to his Head of House.

"Very well, Harry; now, it's already after curfew, and you need to return to your dormitory. Please be on time tomorrow. I'll speak to Madam Pomfrey and Professor Snape right away, so that they'll already know when you go to the hospital. Good night, Harry."

"Good night, Professor, and thanks a lot," Harry replied gratefully and headed back to his common room, where Hermione was worriedly awaiting his return.

HP HEALER POMFREY HP

In the morning, Harry skipped breakfast and headed straight to the hospital wing, where Madam Pomfrey and Professor Snape were already waiting for him. The Healer ordered him to take a seat and waved her wand over him a few times.

"Are you feeling completely well, Harry?" she asked gently, when she put her wand away.

"Yes," Harry replied automatically.

Seeing that the professor was raising an eyebrow, she quickly explained, "His temperature is still slightly elevated, but other than that I can't find anything."

"Very well," Snape replied. "Mr. Potter, do you know how to use the Floo network?" Seeing that Harry gave him an incomprehensive look, he sighed. "Obviously not. Since we don't have much time right now, I'm going to take you through the Floo. Please do as I say." He motioned Pomfrey to go ahead and told Harry to step into the fireplace after the Mediwitch had vanished. Standing next to the child, he called out, 'St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries.'

Harry nearly gagged at the movement but fortunately, it stopped after a few seconds and he was thrown out of a huge fireplace, feeling extremely grateful towards the teacher, who gently steadied him. They were led to a room and Harry was asked to lie down on an examination table.

A few minutes later, two Healers entered the room, whom Pomfrey introduced as Head Healer McKenzie and Healer McCain. Harry noticed in relief that Pomfrey seemed to know them well and that they were very friendly. Both Healers waved their wands at him many times. To Harry, it seemed endless, before they finally both put their wands away an hour later.

Healer McKenzie shortly conferred with his colleague and sighed, looking at Pomfrey, who was sitting next to Harry's bed together with Professor Snape. "So far, we can't find anything wrong with him. Therefore, we're going to give him the Apertindico potion for an ultrasound. Do you agree, Healer Pomfrey?"

Pomfrey and Snape quickly exchanged a glance, before the Mediwitch gave the Healer her approval. McKenzie waved his wand, making a small blue bird come out of the tip and leave the room through the wall. A minute later, a Mediwitch entered the room with a huge goblet, containing a slightly blue liquid. The Healer made Harry drink the liquid and helped him to lie down again comfortably, before he spoke to the others in a small voice, watching his wrist watch all the time. After two minutes, both Healers began to wave their wands at Harry once more.

Harry sighed inwardly. '_Leave it to me to be different from anyone else_,' he thought in exasperation, noticing that his head began to hurt.

While Madam Pomfrey watched the pictures that were displayed at one of the walls together with the Healers, Snape was watching Harry in growing concern. Seeing that the child was beginning to shiver, he quickly conjured a warm blanket, which he gently draped over the boy, before he worriedly felt his forehead. "I believe that Mr. Potter is slightly feverish again," he told his colleague.

Healer McKenzie interrupted the examination immediately, pointing his wand at Harry's head. "38.8," he confirmed, "and it was 37.4 before. Mr. Potter, do you know when exactly your condition began to worsen? Was it after I gave you the potion?"

Harry slightly shook his head. "I'm not sure, but I think my head began to hurt after you began to wave your wands at me after you gave me the potion," he replied in a small voice.

"So he seems to have a problem with potions," McKenzie said thoughtfully. "However, the potion worked without problems." He once more turned to Harry. "Mr. Potter, would you mind us continue our examination for about ten more minutes?"

"Of course," Harry told the man. "It's not so bad."

When the Healers put their wands away, the Head Healer sighed. "I'm afraid we have to keep Mr. Potter here in order to do some more thorough examinations."

* * *

HP

_Well, this chapter is not too interesting, but I cut it here; otherwise it would have been too long, and I'm going to give you the next chapter tomorrow anyway, provided that you read and review this one ;-)_

_Thanks for your kind reviews! I am not a native speaker of English. So please excuse my mistakes – or tell me, so that I can correct them!_

_All recognizable characters belong to J.K.Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story._


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

"No!" Harry replied immediately, a horrified expression on his face. '_I'm not going to stay here in the hospital_,' he thought in determination.

"I'm afraid we can't let him stay here without the permission of his guardians, who are Muggles that hate everything concerning Magic," Professor Snape added in determination.

"Unfortunately, that's true," Madam Pomfrey agreed, comfortingly stroking Harry's slightly flushed cheeks.

"All right," McKenzie said thoughtfully. "We never had such a case before, and we'll have to do some research. Fact is that potions work to a certain extent but not completely, and they cause him to develop a fever."

"He definitely didn't have the problem when he was a baby," Pomfrey threw in. "I remember that his mother brought him to me with the wizard's flu, and Severus brew a potion for babies for me, which I gave the child. After a day, he was cured without any problems."

"Ah, it's good to know that it's not a problem, which he had from birth onwards. To me, it seems to be a failure of his immune system, but I can't tell you more at the moment. As I said we'll research the problem, and I might come over to Hogwarts during the next days or weeks to do some more tests, if you don't mind."

"Of course we don't mind," Pomfrey replied gratefully. "However, it would be good to know at least twenty minutes in advance in order to pull Mr. Potter out of his classes without making you wait."

"All right," the Healer agreed and once more pointed his wand at Harry's head. "It doesn't make much sense to try and give him a fever reducer or a headache potion, since it would probably cause his temperature to go up even more, which would aggravate his headache again. However, I could offer you Muggle pills, provided that our Muggle medicine department has something in stock against headache and fever." Seeing Pomfrey nod in agreement, he let out another blue bird.

A few minutes later, a Mediwitch brought the requested medicine. Healer McKenzie made Harry swallow a small pill and gave the package to Pomfrey. "Not more than four a day please," he instructed her.

"Thanks a lot, Healer McKenzie," Pomfrey replied gratefully and turned to Harry. "Do you feel well enough to return to Hogwarts?"

"Of course," Harry replied and got up, giving Professor Snape a grateful look when the teacher wrapped the warm blanket around him.

Like on their way to the hospital the professor took Harry through the Floo with him, and in the blink of an eye, Harry found himself back in Madam Pomfrey's office. The Mediwitch pointed her wand at Harry's head and gave him a piercing look. "You may attend lunch in the Great Hall, Harry, but afterwards I want you to go to bed and rest since you still have a slight fever. Please come to me once more after dinner, so that I can check on you and give you more of the medicine if necessary."

"Okay," Harry agreed, feeling completely annoyed by the fuss, which even continued when Hermione kept him company in his dormitory during the afternoon.

HP HEALER POMFREY HP

During the next few weeks, Healer McKenzie came to Hogwarts to check on Harry a few times, but so far neither the Healers at St. Mungo's nor Madam Pomfrey and Professor Snape had found a solution to what Harry's problem was. Fortunately, so far Harry didn't have any more health problems that afforded the administration of potions.

One day, however, Harry came in the whoosh of an Expelliarmus spell in the Defence against the Dark Arts class when Neville failed to hit Ron, which whom he was partnered for their practice. Neville's spell was weak enough not to throw Harry, who had been concentrating on his own practice with Hermione, through the room but merely made his wand fly out of his hand. Nevertheless, during the rest of the morning Harry felt a bit dizzy in addition to the headache he always got in Professor Quirrel's class. '_Strange_,' he mused, '_the spell should only take my wand away but not make me feel dizzy_.'

"Harry, are you all right?" Hermione asked in concern, noticing that Harry seemed not to be his usual self when they climbed up to the Transfiguration classroom.

"Of course," Harry replied. "I just have a headache as usual after Defence."

"Harry, don't you think it would be time to tell any of the teachers about your problems with Professor Quirrel?" Hermione asked in exasperation. "You can't run around with a headache after every Defence against the Dark Arts class."

Harry sighed. "I know; I should tell either Professor McGonagall or Professor Snape, but..." He slowly trailed off.

"You really should do that; maybe it would even help us find out some more about you know what I mean.

"All right," Harry replied, knowing that this answer was necessary if he wanted to get some peace. Fortunately, Professor McGonagall just entered the Transfiguration classroom, so that all further conversations had to wait. Not noticing that the teacher was watching him closely throughout the class, Harry tried to concentrate on his task, glad when he managed to change the colour of his plush cat from grey to pink.

"Very good Ms. Granger and Mr. Potter," the teacher commended them and announced that she wanted to have them write a detailed essay about the difference between transfiguring a cat into a mouse and transfiguring a cat into a differently coloured cat, causing the students to groan. "Mr. Potter, please stay behind for a moment," McGonagall finally ordered the boy when she dismissed the others, causing Hermione to throw Harry a knowing glance.

The professor led Harry into her office, motioning him to sit down. "Harry, are you feeling all right?" she asked in concern.

Harry sighed, recalling that he had promised Hermione to tell the truth. "In Professor Quirrel's class, I always... no, not always, but most of the time, get a headache. I don't know why. Apart from that, I came in the whoosh of an Expelliarmus spell, which Neville threw at Ron, and since then I'm feeling a bit dizzy," he admitted in a small voice.

Professor McGonagall gave him a worried look and slowly extended a hand, gently feeling his forehead. "I assume that you feel dizzy because you have a fever. Did I understand you correctly that normally you have a headache after the class, but today you're feverish because of the spell you were hit with?"

"Probably," Harry replied uncertainly, rubbing his aching forehead. "But it's not so bad, Professor. I intended to return to my dormitory and rest over lunch break. Ron is going to wake me up in time for the afternoon classes."

"That sounds reasonable, although you definitely need to eat something," McGonagall thought aloud, before she stood up in determination. "Let me quickly take your temperature, and then we'll decide what to do." She took an old Muggle thermometer out of a drawer, which she stuck into Harry's mouth, nearly causing him to gag in surprise.

Harry sighed in relief when she took the cold thing back after an infinite time. Seeing that Harry had quite a fever, Professor McGonagall waved her wand, transfiguring the chair Harry was sitting on to a sofa, and gently helped the boy to lie down. "I'm going to call Professor Snape and Madam Pomfrey, Harry. You have a fever of 39 degrees, and I don't think you'll be well enough to attend any more classes today." She hurried to the fireplace, glad to reach Severus before he left his classroom for the Great Hall, and five minutes later, Pomfrey and Snape were standing next to her, waving their wands at the boy.

"It seems that you don't only have problems with potions but also with spells," Pomfrey finally told Harry. Turning to her colleagues, she resumed, "Diagnostic spells don't have a negative influence on him though."

"Probably, it's the same with potions," Snape supplied. "Only potions and spells that are supposed to have an effect will make his immune system go haywire. When he was given the potion in the hospital, he was still all right, but as soon as they cast the spell that made the potion affect him, he got a fever, because his immune system thought that it had to fight the effect."

While Madam Pomfrey gave Harry one of the Muggle pills and made him drink some water, Professor McGonagall filled her colleagues in about Harry's problems with Professor Quirrel. Snape all of a sudden let out a huge gasp. He stepped over to Harry's side, sat down on the edge of the sofa, and asked, "Where exactly does your head hurt in Professor Quirrel's company?"

Harry gave him a wary look, pointing to his forehead. "My scar," he replied hesitantly.

Snape let out a sigh. "I suspected Quirrel for quite a while, although I didn't know what exactly was wrong with the man. With this information now I suppose that he is possessed by the Dark Lord's spirit." Ignoring his colleagues' simultaneous gasp, he continued, "Minerva, we have to speak with Albus straight after the last afternoon classes, and Harry should never be alone. I suggest that you let him stay in your guest room as long as he needs to stay in bed, Minerva, because the open hospital wing is too dangerous for him with Quirrel around."

With that, the meeting was adjourned and Minerva led Harry into the guest room of her private quarters. "Harry, try to sleep for a while, and if you have any problems, you just have to call me. I'll leave all the doors open, so that I'll be able to hear you."

"Thank you, Professor," Harry replied, feeling very uncomfortable to be in his Head of House's private quarters.

In the evening, Professors Dumbledore, Snape, McGonagall, and Madam Pomfrey met in McGonagall's living room. The teachers filled the Headmaster in about their suspicions concerning Professor Quirrel as well as about the abuse that Harry had endured at the Dursleys' home.

After a longer discussion, they decided that from now on Harry was exempt from all Defence against the Dark Arts classes and that Professor Snape should teach him Defence in private.

However, when McGonagall told the Headmaster that she would like to gain the guardianship over Harry, Dumbledore protested vehemently. "Minerva, you know that it's imperative for Harry to return to his relatives during the holidays because of the blood wards."

* * *

HP

_Thanks for your kind reviews! I am not a native speaker of English. So please excuse my mistakes – or tell me, so that I can correct them!_

_All recognizable characters belong to J.K.Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story._


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

"Albus!" Snape replied in exasperation. "This kind of blood wards only work in case that there is the least bit of love between the related persons. However, Lily's sister seems to absolutely detest the boy."

"Albus," Poppy threw in sternly, "if you insist on sending the boy there once more, I'll inform the ministry about the child abuse in that house. As a Healer I can't keep quiet about findings like those in Harry's case. I suggest strongly that you let Minerva or Severus become Harry's guardian."

"We'll see. Let's try it out this summer once more," Dumbledore replied, not completely convinced yet.

However, at the end of the school year after the inevitable events with Quirrel, Voldemort, and the Philosopher's stone, Harry was not in a condition to return to his relatives. He was spiking a dangerously high fever, and Pomfrey and Snape were working together with the Head Healer and the Potions Master of St. Mungo's to find a solution how to help Harry without having to rely on Muggle medicine, which didn't help much.

An hour before the Leaving feast, Dumbledore went to visit the Dursleys in order to inform them what had happened to Harry and that it would take another week until he would be able to come home.

"Why can't you just keep him?" Petunia asked. "We kept the freak here for ten long years, letting him destroy our family life."

"You're his aunt, aren't you, Petunia? I thought you'd love him as if it was your own," Dumbledore replied gently.

"Who would be able to love such a miserable freak? No Professor, he won't find love in our home. He's an annoying burden to our family."

"I see," the Headmaster replied sadly, slowly pulling a parchment out of his robe pockets. "Please give me your signature here then," he told the woman, pointing to a spot on the parchment.

"What is it?" she asked sternly.

"We need your signature to transfer the guardianship over the boy to someone, who is more capable of loving such a cute child as Harry is," the Headmaster replied calmly, before he waved his wand at the cupboard under the stairs to create a small ghost Harry, who'd remind the Dursleys of what they did to a small boy until the end of their days.

Back to Hogwarts, he presented the parchment to his two colleagues, deciding that Professors McGonagall and Snape should apply for the permanent guardianship over the child together.

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When McGonagall and Snape returned from the station in Hogsmeade the next morning, where they had seen off the students, they headed to the hospital wing together, sitting down on each side of Harry's bed.

"Good morning Professors," Harry said in a small voice, uncertainly looking from one to the other.

"Good morning Harry and congratulations for finishing your first Hogwarts year," his Head of House replied, smiling.

Professor Snape smirked and handed Harry a parchment, causing the boy to throw him a confused glance.

"Harry, we managed to gain the guardianship over you," McGonagall informed him, sounding very contented. "You'll never have to return to the Dursleys, and you may stay at Hogwarts with us even over the summer."

"But I thought students weren't allowed to remain in Hogwarts over the summer holidays?" Harry asked in confusion.

"Normally not, but as our ward you're of course entitled to stay where at least one of us is," Snape replied in his soft, silky voice, causing Harry to give his two new guardians a genuine smile.

"Thank you so much, Professors," he replied happily, feeling endlessly relieved at the thought to never have to return to the Dursleys.

"The house elves have prepared a room for you, which is situated next to the hospital wing, so that Madam Pomfrey can reach you easily in case you have problems, and it has also two more doors leading to each of our living rooms," the Transfiguration professor explained, while Snape went to fetch Madam Pomfrey to ask if they could take Harry with them.

"He still has a fever and needs bed rest," the Healer told them sternly. "As long as you keep him in bed and prevent him from doing school work or other things, which might aggravate his condition, I don't mind."

Harry excitedly followed the teachers into his new room. '_My first own room_,' he thought, looking around in amazement. The room held a huge bed like the one in his dormitory, a wardrobe, a desk with a chair in front of it, as well as a few comfortable looking chairs, where he could sit with his friends. Apart from the doors leading to the teachers' quarters, there was a small door leading to an adjacent bathroom, and the best of everything was a charmed window that allowed the view on the Quidditch pitch and the lake.

"This is beautiful; thank you so much, Professors," Harry told the teachers, feeling extremely grateful.

"Harry, considering that we're your guardians now, you don't have to call us Professor. You may call us by our given names, at least during the holidays and at home in private," McGonagall told him in a soft voice, while Snape quickly checked on the boy and gently tucked him in.

During the first week, Pomfrey and Snape kept Harry in bed in spite of his protests stating that he was feeling fine. Afterwards, they reluctantly let him get up, although he was still running a slight temperature. Two weeks later, Harry had already finished all of his summer assignments and began to feel slightly bored in spite of being able to use the huge Hogwarts library, but he could only read so much on one day.

"Would you mind helping me in the potions lab?" Professor Snape asked hesitantly, knowing that Potions didn't count to Harry's favourite subjects, although the boy had developed to a quite competent brewer from the time onwards that he known the Professor's attitude towards him in class was only a farce.

"I'd like to help, sir... err... Severus," Harry replied shyly and followed the teacher into his private lab, where Snape was trying to invent a potion like the fever reducer but without any magical ingredients that might help Harry the next time he needed it.

Only a week later, they had the chance to test the potion after Peeves had playfully attacked Harry with a spell that made Harry develop a fever as well as a rash on both forearms. Unfortunately the fever went steadily up as the rash worsened in spite of the new fever reducing potion. Seeing that the rash was continuously spreading over Harry's whole body, Madam Pomfrey finally had to apply a healing salve on his skin, which made the rash go away but his fever spike dangerously. During the week Harry had to remain in bed, Professor Snape developed another fever reducing potion without magical ingredients, but it only helped as much as the Muggle medicine.

Over the next month, Harry spent much time reading ahead in his new school books, which McGonagall had owl ordered for him. She also played wizard's chess with Harry, and every afternoon, Professor Snape invited Harry to help in the potions lab if he wanted. Harry noticed that he liked to brew potions together with his guardian. He was so different from the person he pretended to be during the school year, and Harry found that it was very easy to talk to the man.

After dinner, some of the teachers used to go flying together with Harry, before everyone, who had remained in the castle over the holidays with the exception of Professor Trelawney met in Professor McGonagall's living room for tea. Most days, Harry retired to his own room, which was just next to the living room, in order not to disturb the teachers, but McGonagall, Snape, or Pomfrey always came and insisted that he should join them for tea.

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One morning, Harry just followed Professor McGonagall into the Great Hall for breakfast when he stopped dead in his tracks. The whole Hall was covered with hundreds of ropes, rings, and balloons, and twice the people as normal were sitting at the table, which they used during the holidays. '_Am I delirious?_' he mused in surprise.

"What..." Harry began in confusion when suddenly, everyone shouted, "Happy Birthday Harry!"

Harry gave his guardians a confused look. "Is it...?"

"Yes, it's your birthday today, Harry," McGonagall replied, smiling. "Happy Birthday Harry."

"Well, your summer holidays obviously aren't boring enough to reflect over important things like birthdays," Snape commentated, raising an eyebrow at the boy.

"No Professor, these holidays are the best I ever had," Harry replied happily. "I've never been so happy before, and that's thanks to the two of you," he added, uncomfortably noticing that tears began to well in his eyes.

"You're very welcome, Harry. We're glad to finally have you here, too," McGonagall quickly assured him, gently putting an arm around his shoulders, while she pulled him inside the Hall.

Harry felt himself being dragged over to the table, from where suddenly Hermione shouted, "Here Harry!"

Harry hurried over to his best friends, who had reserved a seat for him between them. Most of his classmates as well as the whole Weasley clan seemed to be there. Before he could reach his friends though, Professor Snape stepped in his way with Draco Malfoy in tow.

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HP

_So Dumbledore in this story is not so bad, hmm? Thanks for your kind reviews! I am not a native speaker of English. So please excuse my mistakes – or tell me, so that I can correct them!_

_All recognizable characters belong to J.K.Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story._


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

"Harry, I'm sorry," the professor apologized, "I just wanted to introduce Draco to you. He is my godson and just like me he has to keep up appearances in front of the other Slytherins. Since you're the closest to a son of mine and he is my godson I expect the two of you to behave like half brothers and get along with each other. All right?"

Harry extended a hand to Draco. "Hi, I'm Harry. Thanks for coming to my birthday party."

Draco smirked. "Okay, I'm Draco. Thanks for inviting me, and please tell the lions not to eat me alive."

Harry laughed and pulled Draco with him to the table, where he introduced him properly. To his great relief everyone except for Ron behaved very friendly towards the Slytherin, and the children were soon discussing what the strange decoration of the Hall meant, while they devoured large pieces of Harry's birthday cake, which the House elves hat baked in form of the castle. '_It's like a dream_,' Harry mused happily. '_This is too good to be true_.'

When everyone had eaten so much that they had the impression not to be able to move anymore, Rolanda Hooch stood up. "Since I was asked to organize an entertainment program, I turned the Hall into a flying course. You have to follow the instructions on the ropes, pass all of the rings in the right direction, and touch as many balloons as you can, and if you absolve everything correctly, in the end you'll have the opportunity to catch a Snitch. Please take your broom and stand in a line right here."

A huge applause followed her announcement, and everyone hurried to line up. "Harry, do you want to try first?" Fred, who was standing at the top of the line, enquired, but Harry refused.

"No thanks, I'd prefer to fly after everyone else," Harry announced, lining up behind Draco.

Only Hermione and Neville outright refused to fly, but everyone else flew the course and had much fun. In the end, Draco and Harry were the only ones, who had managed to catch the Snitch.

"Can we continue on the Quidditch pitch?" Harry asked Madam Hooch as soon as he was back on the ground, causing everyone to head outside.

Only late in the afternoon, everyone returned to the Great Hall for an early birthday dinner, before the guests had to go home.

Later in the evening, when the teachers were having tea in McGonagall's quarters and Harry was unwrapping large piles of birthday presents, Harry turned to the teachers. "Thanks a lot for such a brilliant birthday. In fact, it was my first birthday party ever, and it was absolutely great."

"You're very welcome, Harry," McGonagall replied softly, throwing the small boy a fond look.

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Two weeks later, Madam Pomfrey received a Floo call from Healer McKenzie, who announced that he wanted to come over for a meeting with Professor Snape, her, and the Potions Master of St. Mungo's.

They agreed to meet at ten o'clock the same day, and Pomfrey asked hesitantly, "Do you want Harry to be present for the meeting?"

"No," Healer McKenzie replied in determination. "He shouldn't be made aware of the content of our findings. However, it would be good if his second guardian could be present as well."

"Do you think they found a solution to Harry's problem?" Professor McGonagall asked with a hopeful expression.

"I don't think so," Pomfrey replied sadly. "He didn't look very pleased, and he told me it would be better if Harry didn't participate. Well, step through the Floo and we'll see."

"We did a lot of research together with two dozen of our Healers and Mediwitches," Healer McKenzie began. "However, we couldn't find even one case similar to Harry's. Therefore, we believe that his problem is due to the killing curse he was hit with nearly eleven years ago, especially since we know for a fact that he didn't have the problems before that time."

"That's what I suspected," Snape mumbled more to himself than to the others, while McGonagall gave the Healers a confused look.

"What does this exactly mean for Harry?"

The Healer sighed. "This means that his immune system is in so far damaged as he cannot take potions or cannot be hit with effective spells without making his immune system go haywire. Normally, it's not life threatening as in most cases he'll merely develop a moderate fever and will be all right after a few days of bed rest. However, in case he comes down with a dangerous illness like for example Dragon Pox, his fever might exceed the life threatening limits."

"Is there any potion or anything that we can do to repair his immune system?" Pomfrey asked, seeing that her friend's face had turned white in shock.

"Unfortunately, so far there is no potion," the Healer replied gravely. "There are spells though. However, the use of these spells is extremely dangerous since the first spell kills the immune system and the second, which has to follow within seconds, revives it. As you probably can imagine, there is a chance that not only the immune system dies but that it pulls other organs down as well, which can't be easily revived. Well, as I said this would only be necessary, if he caught something life threatening," McKenzie concluded his explanation.

"Hopefully our Potions Masters will be able to invent a potion to heal the immune system before Harry catches something like Dragon Pox," Pomfrey spoke up with a horrified expression on her face.

"We'll try," Snape and his colleague promised and agreed on a Potions Masters' thought exchange every Sunday night in Severus' private lab.

Back in her rooms, McGonagall couldn't help the urge to head to Harry's room and pull the child into a bear hug.

"Are you all right, Minerva?" Harry asked in surprise, noticing that his guardian was not very happy about something.

"Ah, the Headmaster hired someone for the vacant Defence against the Dark Arts post, whom I can't recommend at all. I don't know how he could have hired such a fraud," McGonagall lied, knowing that it wasn't a complete lie.

Harry let out a small laugh. "I thought no teacher could be worse than Quirrel. By the way, am I going to attend Defence classes now that Quirrel is gone, or is Severus going to teach me again?"

"I'll have to speak with Severus and the Headmaster about the matter; however, I can imagine that Severus prefers to teach you, because in class there is still the possibility that you might get hit by a spell," Minerva replied, pensively reading what Harry had just written. "No Harry, I'm not sure, but I think birch bark is a magical ingredient and it has to be harvested during the first ten days after the full moon. You better ask Severus about it to be sure. What are you doing anyway?"

Harry laughed. "The twins told me that Professor Sprout gives this essay as homework for the second years every year, and knowing that I won't have so much time when school starts again, I thought I could work a bit ahead."

Professor McGonagall let out a snort. "Well, I'm going to make sure to assign different homework from what I made the students do last year."

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Too soon, the holidays were over and the students came back to Hogwarts. "Harry, Madam Pomfrey said that you may return to your dormitory; however, if you encounter any problems health wise, I expect that you go to see Madam Pomfrey or come back to your room here and inform one of us immediately, so that we can help you as soon as possible. Of course, this room will always be your room, and you may come here any time. You know that you can come here in the evening to talk to us whenever you want, don't you?"

"Thanks a lot, Minerva," Harry replied gratefully. "Thanks for giving me a real home."

Hermione realized soon that Harry was well prepared for the new school year and knew as much as she knew. "Harry, you really studied a lot during the holidays," she commended her friend in complete amazement.

"Oh no! Are you going to develop into a second Hermione?" Ron asked in exasperation.

"I won't do such a thing, but I stayed at Hogwarts all the time and had help and encouragement in contrary to the year before, and it was much fun to study," Harry replied firmly.

Potions class went much better for Harry than during the previous year. Professor Snape had thought intensely what he could do to make the class safer for Harry and had decided to pair each Gryffindor with a Slytherin. He had told Harry and Draco, who had become good friends during the holidays when Draco had visited Harry a few times, in advance that he was going to pair them and had advised them to make a fuss about it to keep up appearances.

'_That's actually a good idea_,' Harry mused. '_No Slytherin will try to throw something into my cauldron when Draco is sitting next to me_.'

However, Defence against the Dark Arts was a farce. The teacher was absolutely incompetent. '_Just like Minerva predicted_,' Harry thought in annoyance. He pondered if he should ask Severus to resume their Defence lessons; however, knowing that the Potions Master and Head of Slytherin was extremely busy, he dare not keep the professor from his work by his selfish desires.

One day, his guardian kept him after the Potions class, which was the last afternoon class. Ushering Harry in his office, he enquired, "Harry, what was wrong with your Defence test?" Seeing that Harry gave him a confused look, he elaborated, "Since Minerva and I are your guardians the other teachers inform us about your tests as well as about good or bad behaviour. This morning, I heard that you had a D in your Defence test, which I can hardly imagine."

Harry sighed and explained, "Let me tell you a few of the questions that test was about. What is Gilderoy Lockhart's favourite colour? What is his favourite meal, his favourite animal, and so on. He is completely incompetent, and we didn't learn anything about Defence against the Dark Arts so far."

Severus raised an eyebrow at the child. "Then why didn't you come to me so that we could resume our lessons?"

"Because I knew how busy you are," Harry replied in a small voice. "However, if you were still willing to teach me, I'd love it."

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The next few weeks passed relatively uneventful until the opening of the Chamber of Secrets, followed by the first Quidditch match of the season. Harry ended up catching the Snitch, but due to being hit by a Bludger he broke his arm. '_Oh no_!' he thought horrified when all of a sudden Professor Lockhart hovered over him pointing his wand at his arm. "Professor Snape! Help!" he suddenly heard himself shouting as loud as he could.

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HP

_Thanks for your kind reviews! I am not a native speaker of English. So please excuse my mistakes – or tell me, so that I can correct them!_

_All recognizable characters belong to J.K.Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story._


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Seconds later, the Potions professor appeared at his side; however, it was already too late, and all the bones of Harry's arm were gone. "You imbecile," Snape spat at the Defence teacher. "Let me assure you that this will have consequences. How dare you endanger a student like this?" Not waiting for an answer, Professor Snape scooped Harry up in his arms and hurried to the hospital wing, followed closely by McGonagall and Harry's friends.

A few minutes later, Madam Pomfrey fussed over Harry, a grave expression on her face. "I'm sorry, but there is no other way than to administer the Skele-Gro potion. You'll be in for a rough night, Harry." She shooed the students out in spite of their protests, telling them that they were allowed to return in the morning, and turned to the teachers. "Minerva, Severus, we'll have to take turns staying with him over the night. His fever might become dangerously high, especially as it is already up to 39 degrees due to the spell that was applied on his arm."

"Of course," Snape replied impatiently, while the Healer slid a wrist band over Harry's good arm, which allowed his temperature to be displayed on a small monitor that was placed on his night table.

"We'll stay here and watch him of course," McGonagall agreed, bathing Harry's face with a cool cloth.

Madam Pomfrey made Harry take a Muggle fever reducer, although it would only help so much, before she pressed a phial against his lips and ordered him to swallow.

The potion was the most disgusting thing that Harry had ever ingested. Moreover, he began to shiver violently and felt worse than he could remember having felt before.

"It's all right, Harry; your fever is spiking right now, but it'll become better soon. Try to sleep for a while; we'll all be here with you," Madam Pomfrey's soft voice penetrated his ears, and Harry slowly drifted off to sleep.

When Harry woke up a few hours later, he saw that his guardians and Madam Pomfrey were sitting a few metres away from his bed, obviously having a heated discussion with Professor Dumbledore, although he wasn't able to hear a word. '_They must have put up a Silencing spell. I wonder what it is about_,' he mused when all of a sudden the Headmaster stood up and left the room with an expression of defeat written on his face.

With that, the teachers returned to Harry's bedside, noticing that he had woken up. Professor Snape waved his wand to cancel the Silencing charm, and Madam Pomfrey asked gently, "How are you feeling, Harry?"

"Hot and cold at the same time," Harry mumbled, shivering.

"Harry, I have good news for you. Lockhart will be gone by the morning," Snape told his ward, knowing that Harry would be as pleased as himself by the news.

"Oh, was that what your talk with Professor Dumbledore was about?" Harry smirked. "He didn't look very pleased when he left the room."

"He wasn't pleased at all, Harry, definitely not," Snape sneered. "It won't be too easy to find a new Defence against the Dark Arts teacher by tomorrow.

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All of a sudden, Harry heard a strange, hissing noise, which formed into words. A terrified expression spread over his face when he asked, "Did you hear that?"

"Did we hear what?" McGonagall asked in concern, looking at the monitor on the night table in alarm.

"The voice," Harry replied.

"There was no voice, Harry," Snape told him, worriedly turning his eyes to his colleague.

"There was, and it said something like 'I'll kill you'," Harry insisted.

"Harry, I'm sure everything is all right," Madam Pomfrey told him in a soothing voice. "You're probably delirious considering the fever you're running."

"I'm not. I definitely heard the voice," Harry mumbled, although he was slowly getting uncertain. '_Maybe I am delirious since none of them heard the voice_,' he mused in spite of being sure that he had heard it.

While Pomfrey busied herself making new leg compresses for Harry, Minerva and Severus spoke to the still upset boy in order to distract him. Madam Pomfrey had just finished her work and sighed, knowing that that was all she could do for the child at the moment, when all of a sudden the fireplace in her office flared. "There was another attack," she told her colleagues a moment later, while she hurried out of the wing.

A few minutes later, Pomfrey and the Headmaster returned with a petrified Colin Creevey on a stretcher.

"Maybe Harry was right and there was this voice," Snape mused aloud. "Can he hear a kind of animal, which we aren't able to hear?"

"Harry, have you ever noticed that you're capable of speaking to animals?" McGonagall asked gently, holding the boy's good hand gently in her own, cool hand.

Harry threw the teachers a terrified look but replied in a small voice, "I've talked to a snake at the zoo, but that's all I know. I thought many wizards could speak to snakes."

"No," Snape told him in his soft voice. "This is a very rare ability, and even if it's a brilliant and very useful ability, it would be better if we all kept quiet about it right now. Otherwise some of the students might think that you were the Heir of Slytherin, which you are definitely not."

"Do you think the monster in the Chamber of Secrets could be a snake, maybe even a Basilisk?" Minerva all of a sudden asked. "Salazar Slytherin is known as a Parselmouth, isn't he?"

"That sounds very plausible," Snape replied thoughtfully. "We'll just have to find out where the entrance is and who is opening it."

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Unfortunately, they couldn't prevent more students from getting petrified, and six months later, Harry and Ron entered the Chamber of Secrets together with the current Defence teacher, Remus Lupin, in order to free Ginny Weasley.

"Mr. Potter and Mr. Weasley, you will stay here and wait for me," Lupin ordered the two boys in a strict voice.

"All right," Ron replied obediently, while Harry threw him an astonished look and followed the professor further into the Chamber.

With Fawkes' help Lupin and Harry fought the Basilisk, and Harry finally destroyed the diary. However, right before being killed the Basilisk managed to bite Harry, and even if Fawkes was able to heal the boy, Harry collapsed unconsciously.

"Fawkes, could you please take Harry and Ms. Weasley to the hospital wing and return for Mr. Weasley and me?" Professor Lupin asked the phoenix, who trilled a comforting melody in reply, before he flashed the two children into the hospital wing.

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"Remus! Floo-call Severus and tell him he must come immediately," Madam Pomfrey shouted as soon as Fawkes appeared with Lupin and Ron in tow, while she transfigured Harry's bed into a bathtub.

Seconds later, Snape strode into the room. "What is it, Poppy?" he asked impatiently, before he noticed Harry in the bathtub, unconscious.

Professor Lupin quickly filled him in about what had happened in the Chamber of Secrets, causing Snape to hiss at his colleague, "How dare you take a child to fight a Basilisk?"

"Severus, calm down; this won't help Harry. I don't know if there is still Basilisk venom in his bloodstream; I couldn't find anything wrong with him except for the fever, which is life threatening high. Can you check his blood quickly?"

"Of course." The teacher took a few drops of the boy's blood and hurried down into his private lab, only to return thirty minutes later. "There's a tiny amount of 0.01 percent of poison left in his blood. I already made the antidote; however, are you able to give it to him?"

"No." Pomfrey shook her head in exasperation, trying hard to fight the tears that were welling in her eyes. "He definitely wouldn't survive if his fever went up any more. I believe that we have to call Healer McKenzie in order to get his opinion, but we'll probably have to go through with the spells he told us about in order to kill and revive Harry's immune system."

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HP

_Thanks for your kind reviews! I am not a native speaker of English. So please excuse my mistakes – or tell me, so that I can correct them!_

_All recognizable characters belong to J.K.Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story._


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Before the completely shocked Professor Snape could even think of a reply, Fawkes surprised them by jumping on Harry's chest. He tilted his head until one of his eyes were just over Harry's mouth, before he looked at Madam Pomfrey, trilling an excited sounding melody.

"Do you want to pour tears in his mouth?" Snape asked in understanding. "Poppy, prie Harry's mouth open, I'll make him swallow," he quickly instructed the Healer.

Seconds later, Fawkes poured five tears into the child's open mouth, before he let go and made himself comfortable on the other end of the bed, trilling a comforting melody.

When Professor McGonagall entered the hospital wing as soon as word about what had happened reached her, she found Poppy, Severus, and Remus sit around Harry. Poppy's and Remus' faces were tear-stricken, while Severus' face held a blank expression but was even whiter than normal. "What happened?" she asked, horrified.

"Fawkes just saved Harry," Snape was the first to answer.

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By the time Harry was back to full health his friends had already returned home for their summer holidays. Like in the previous year, Harry spent much time doing his summer assignments, reading ahead in his new school books, playing wizard's chess with McGonagall, and brewing potions with Snape.

One evening when everyone was assembled in McGonagall's quarters having tea, an owl brought a special edition of the Daily Prophet. '_Sirius Black escapes from Azkaban_,' was the enormous headline that caused everyone to gasp.

"Who is Sirius Black?" Harry asked curiously.

"Ah, he was an old friend of your fathers', and he was in Azkaban because of murder," Dumbledore explained quickly, throwing McGonagall and Snape a threatening glare.

Later in the evening when Harry went to bed, Snape sat on the edge of his bed for a while and told him the truth about Sirius Black. "Harry, please promise me that you'll be extremely careful, and if you notice anything strange come to Minerva or me or to any other teacher immediately."

Harry threw his guardian a frightened look and promised, "I'll be careful. He won't be able to get into the castle though, will he?"

"We don't know yet how he managed to get around the Dementors in Azkaban," Snape replied pensively. "Nobody ever managed to escape from there so far. You should better not be alone in the halls."

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On Halloween, Harry learnt that it was not impossible for Sirius Black to enter the castle, and after the night, which the whole school spent in the Great Hall, his guardians told him that he was supposed to spend the nights in his own room from now on.

Only a few days later, the Quidditch match Gryffindor against Hufflepuff took place in the midst of a thunderstorm. In the middle of the game, Harry suddenly noticed a black dog sitting in the stands watching the game. '_Is that the grim, which Neville told me about after his Divination class?_' he mused, glad that his guardians had advised him not to take Divination since he didn't believe in such things anyway.

Unfortunately, a few minutes later, Harry made his first contact with the Dementors. At the same time as he felt the air getting colder he heard a woman's voice scream, before he lost consciousness and fell from his broom. Waking up he found himself in the hospital wing, surrounded by his team colleagues, who were soon shooed out by Madam Pomfrey, who calmly explained to Harry that Professor Dumbledore had used two spells on him, one to prevent him from crashing into the ground and one to levitate him onto a stretcher. Both spells as well as the influence of the Dementors had affected his immune system once more, and Pomfrey kept him in bed for a whole week, before she grudgingly let him go.

McGonagall and Snape, who had visited Harry whenever they could spare a minute, put up a daily fight with the Headmaster about the Dementors; however Professor Dumbledore insisted on keeping the Dementors around the school, claiming that Black wouldn't only put Harry into the hospital wing for a week but would try to kill him.

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Shortly before the beginning of the winter holidays, the students were allowed to leave the castle for their second Hogsmeade visit. '_I'd love to go with Hermione and Ron_,' Harry thought hopefully; however, his guardians decided that it was still too dangerous for Harry to go to Hogsmeade.

"But I need to buy Christmas presents," Harry replied sadly.

"One of us will take you to Hogsmeade on the first day of the holidays," Snape promised, and McGonagall nodded her agreement.

On Saturday morning, the Weasley twins cornered Harry and handed him the Marauders Map as an early Christmas present.

Harry thanked them profusely, pondering if he should use it and head to Hogsmeade. '_No, Severus promised to take me to Hogsmeade on the first day of the holidays_,' a voice in the back of his head spoke up and in order not to become tempted he decided to occupy himself otherwise. He hesitantly entered Snape's quarters and searched for his guardian, whom he found in his private lab.

"I'm sorry to disturb you, Severus," he began hesitantly, "but I thought perhaps I could help you here."

Snape gave the boy a surprised look. "You can help if you want to prepare ingredients. However, you have to be very careful. I have to brew the Wolfsbane potion, which is fairly difficult to brew, and the ingredients have to be prepared flawlessly."

"I'll try," Harry replied and concentrated on the task.

"Harry, it's lunchtime. Please go to the Great Hall on your own; I can't leave the potion right now," the professor told him a few hours later.

"Then I'll continue here; I don't mind," Harry replied in determination and continued to help the teacher.

Only two hours later, Snape told him, "Now the potion has to simmer for thirty minutes. Let's have lunch."

They headed into the living room, and the professor called Dobby, who always became very excited to see Harry, and ordered lunch for the two of them.

"What is the Wolfsbane potion?" Harry asked interestedly, giving the teacher a curious look.

"You know what a werewolf is, don't you, Harry?"

"Well, yes, you taught us when Professor Lupin was sick a few weeks ago," Harry replied uncertainly.

"All right; as you know a werewolf transforms into a wolf once a month. This potion enables a werewolf to keep his mind when he transforms, so that he can stay at home during the night and peacefully sleep until he transforms back into his human form in the morning," Snape explained carefully.

"And why do you have to brew the potion? Do we have a werewolf at Hogwarts?" Harry asked in confusion.

Severus sighed. "Harry, you know that you can't talk about this to anyone, not even to your best friends, don't you?"

"Of course," Harry replied anxiously.

"Professor Lupin is a werewolf, but don't tell him that you know."

"I see. No, I won't speak with anyone about it," Harry promised, a clearly shocked expression on his face. "Um... Severus, can you promise me not to become angry if I show you something?" he asked hesitantly when he finished his lunch.

Snape raised an eyebrow at the child. "I promise, provided that it's not anything that might put you in danger."

Harry laughed and pulled the map out of his robe pocket, quickly activating it with his wand. Together they watched the map in complete amazement.

"Where did you get this?" Snape finally asked.

"Um... I'd rather not tell... Somebody gave it to me, and they said they took it from Filch's office a while ago. They meant I could use it to go to Hogsmeade through one of the hidden passages." He pointed to the passage leading to Honeydukes.

"So that's how Black managed to get into Hogwarts," Snape mused aloud. "Harry, thanks for showing me this. I'll let you keep the map, but you have to promise me that you won't use it to do anything, which Minerva or I wouldn't approve."

"I promise," Harry replied, feeling extremely glad that the man really seemed to care about him and wanted to keep him safe.

"May I borrow the map tonight and show it to the other teachers? You'll get it back afterwards."

Harry gave his guardian a weary nod, followed by another, eager nod when the teacher asked if he wanted to help with the potion some more.

Later in the evening, when most of the teachers were assembled in McGonagall's living room for tea, Snape showed the map around, explaining that Harry had received it from at least two other students.

"The Marauders' Map," Lupin gasped in surprise and explained, "James, Peter, Sirius, and I made this map while we were at Hogwarts. Unfortunately, Filch took it from us, claiming it was dangerous. You can do lots of things with the map, you can for example search for persons, watch certain rooms, and several things more. And the map always displays a person's real name. If I was under Polyjuice potion, disguised as Sirius Black, the map would still show me as Remus Lupin."

"Harry must have lots of confidence into you, Severus," Madam Hooch spoke up. "Imagine, Min and Poppy, if we had such a map while we were students, would any of you have shown it to a teacher?"

"Severus is more than a teacher to Harry; he's his guardian and the closest to a father figure that Harry has ever known," Pomfrey replied patiently, throwing Snape a proud smile, causing the younger teacher to roll his eyes at the Mediwitch, who knew him better than anybody else.

"What?!" Lupin suddenly blurted out and darted from the room, shouting, "Severus, Filius, come with me!" as he ran, causing Snape, Flitwick, and the Headmaster to follow him out into the deserted halls.

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HP

_Thanks for your kind reviews! I am not a native speaker of English. So please excuse my mistakes – or tell me, so that I can correct them!_

_All recognizable characters belong to J.K.Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story._


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

"What is it, Lupin?" Snape asked impatiently, while they followed the werewolf through the halls.

"Here," Lupin said, pointing to the map. "It says 'Peter Pettigrew.' He's supposed to be dead, but that can't be true; otherwise he wouldn't be on the map. We have to catch him; however, he is a rat Animagus, so we have to be careful and cover the whole hall with a stunning spell."

"All right," Dumbledore was the first to reply and head forward, throwing a strong stunning spell over the dark hall in front of them, before he cast a Lumos charm and headed on into the hall.

"Accio Peter Pettigrew," Severus chanted, smirking when a stunned rat flew into his outstretched arm.

"Remus and Severus, please follow me into my office. Filius, if you could go back and tell the others what happened," the Headmaster ordered his colleagues, before he hurried into his office, followed by his younger colleagues.

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Monday morning's Daily Prophet informed the wizarding world that Peter Pettigrew had been the Secret Keeper of the Potters and was responsible for the death of thirteen Muggles, for which Sirius Black had been faultily accused. After a quick process on Sunday, Pettigrew had been given the Dementors' kiss, and now the Ministry was looking for Sirius Black in order to apologize to him and to compensate him for twelve years in Azkaban.

'_Oh no_,' Harry thought terrified. '_He is my godfather. Will he take me away from Minerva and Severus?_'

"Harry, what's wrong?" Minerva asked when they left Harry's room together in order to head down to the Great Hall for breakfast, noticing the boy's troubled expression.

"Will you and Severus still remain my guardians even if Sirius Black is my godfather?" Harry whispered anxiously.

McGonagall stopped dead in her tracks, not aware of the fact that Severus had told the child as much. "Harry, that's for you to decide. If you want to have us as your guardians, everything will remain as it is."

"Oh thank God," Harry replied relieved. "I mean, you're like parents to me, and I'm so happy."

"I'm glad to hear that, Harry," McGonagall told him, putting an arm around his shoulders. "For us you're like a son, Harry. By the way, since Sirius Black seems to be innocent, you may return to your dormitory if you wish. Of course you don't have to; it's up to you."

Harry threw his guardian a grateful look. "Thanks a lot, Minerva. If I may choose, I'd like to remain in my own room at least until the holidays. It's so nice to have parents and a room just for myself; I'm really enjoying it so much," he added in a small voice, causing the teacher to pull him into a slight embrace.

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Harry was very much looking forward to the first day of the holidays. Minerva and Severus had decided to take Harry to Hogsmeade together after seeing the students off at the station, and Harry couldn't wait since he had never been to Hogsmeade before as his guardians thought it to be too dangerous for him because of Sirius Black.

For Sunday afternoon, Professor Lupin had invited him to his quarters in order to introduce his godfather, Sirius Black, to Harry. Since Harry knew that the man couldn't take him away from his new parents, he was looking forward to getting to know the man.

However, when Harry woke up on Saturday morning, he felt absolutely horrible. His throat and his chest were extremely sore, his head and his eyes hurt, and he felt hot and cold at the same time. Harry groaned and closed his eyes again, noticing that the sunlight that streamed through the magical window on the opposite wall made them ache even more. He mused if he should go to Madam Pomfrey but decided to just remain in bed. '_Minerva or Severus will come and look after me, if they notice that I'm not up yet_.'

Sure enough, when Harry had just drifted off back to sleep, McGonagall entered his room, surprised that Harry still was asleep. She stepped over to the bed and reached out to shake his shoulder when she noticed that his cheeks were deeply flushed and sweat was building on his forehead, making his hair stick to his forehead. Inwardly groaning she sat down on the edge of his bed and carefully felt his forehead, not surprised when she found that he was burning up.

McGonagall quickly left the room and fetched her friend Poppy, who waved her wand at the child, clucking disapprovingly. Finally, she put her wand away and stated, "He has bronchitis, which is on the verge of turning into a lung infection. I'm sorry, but I must give him a potion in spite of knowing that his fever will spike if I do that. If we only relied on Muggle medicine, he would certainly get a lung infection." She spelled a potion straight into Harry's stomach, before she waved her wand over him once more.

"That's much better now," she stated, pointing her wand at Harry's head, sighing. "39.8, but it will come down eventually since it's only because of his immune system and not indicating an illness. Maybe I'll have to give him another dose of the potion tonight though."

During the day, McGonagall and Snape took turns looking after Harry, and on Sunday morning, his condition was much better apart from the fever, which was still exceeding 38 degrees.

"Please, may I get up?" Harry begged Madam Pomfrey when she came to check on him at lunchtime. "Professor Lupin invited me for the afternoon in order to introduce Sirius Black to me, because he's my official godfather."

"I don't like it at all, but if you feel well enough you may go for an hour," Pomfrey grudgingly allowed him to go in spite of knowing better and made him drink an extra large dose of Snape's non magical fever reducer.

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After Harry had obediently taken a short nap, McGonagall accompanied him to Lupin's quarters, telling her colleague that Harry was ill and had to be back in his room an hour later or even earlier in case he felt worse.

'_He's really funny_,' was Harry's first impression of his godfather.

"Harry, I'm so happy to finally meet you," Sirius told him. "Do you know that I'm your godfather, Harry?"

"Yes, I know; Professor Snape told me," Harry replied shyly.

"Snivellus told you?" Sirius asked unbelievingly.

"Sirius!" Lupin warned his friend. "Severus is Harry's guardian; so stop it."

"All right," Sirius agreed, laughing. "Harry, do you want to come and live with me? As your godfather it's no problem to gain the guardianship over you."

Harry gave the man a startled look. "No thanks," he finally replied. "I'm very happy with my guardians. They are like parents to me, and I like them very much. I'd like to remain with them."

"I see," Sirius said with a slightly hurt expression on his face and handed Harry a huge present. "This is an early Christmas present for you, Harry. Shall we go and try it out immediately?"

Harry carefully unwrapped the present, finding, "A broom!" he shouted in excitement. "Thanks a lot, err... Sirius!"

"It's not any broom, it's a Firebolt," Sirius explained. "Shall we go and try it out on the Quidditch pitch?"

"Um... I don't think I'm allowed to go flying today," Harry replied in a small voice.

"Ah but if they didn't explicitly forbid it, you're allowed," Sirius told him, motioning to follow him out of the room.

"Sirius, stop it," Professor Lupin finally told his friend. "Minerva told us that Harry is ill, didn't she? Of course he can't go flying." He shook his head in exasperation.

"Maybe we could fly together sometime next week?" Harry asked hesitantly.

"We can do that whenever you want. How about you come and visit me at my home?" Sirius asked eagerly.

"I don't know if I'll be allowed to leave Hogwarts, but we could also meet here, if you don't mind visiting Professor Lupin again," Harry replied shyly.

"Professor Lupin?" Sirius laughed. "That sounds too funny, Moony. Do the students really call you that?"

'_He's horrible_,' Harry thought and replied firmly, "Of course we call Professor Lupin that. He is the best professor we ever had in Defence against the Dark Arts, and he..." Unfortunately whatever Harry had intended to say was drowned in a coughing fit.

"Harry, are you feeling all right?" Lupin asked, glancing at his wrist watch. "I'll better take you back to your room, before your guardians become angry at you because you're late."

"Thanks," Harry replied gratefully. He once more thanked Sirius for the broom and promised to contact him through Professor Lupin when he was allowed to fly again, before he followed Lupin out of his quarters, inwardly sighing in relief.

During the following months, Harry met Sirius from time to time, when his godfather, who had been given back his old position as an Auror, came to the castle to visit him. Harry enjoyed these visits immensely since his godfather was funny and always in a good mood. However, compared to Severus Harry thought that Sirius behaved more as if he was the same age as himself. '_Thank God that Severus is more like an adult than Sirius and that it's possible to speak with him about anything. I'm really lucky to have such nice new parents_,' he mused while he was helping his guardian to brew potions for the hospital wing after a long afternoon with his godfather.

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The rest of Harry's third year passed relatively uneventfully. However, during the following summer, Harry began to vision immense problems.

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HP

_Thanks for your kind reviews! I am not a native speaker of English. So please excuse my mistakes – or tell me, so that I can correct them!_

_All recognizable characters belong to J.K.Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story._


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

It began a few days after his birthday that Harry had a strange dream, during which his scar hurt immensely. He watched a strange creature explain something to two people, whom Harry couldn't remember to have seen before.

"We'll merely need the bones of that Muggle fool father of mine; yes, don't look surprised, my father was a Muggle; put that in your pureblood pipe and smoke it," the creature spoke in a hissing voice. "We also need the blood of my enemy and..."

Harry woke up with a jolt, grabbing his forehead with both hands. '_What was that creature? Considering how much my scar hurts, it must have been the spirit of Voldemort_,' he mused. During the whole day he had a splitting headache, but knowing that he couldn't take a potion against it that wouldn't harm him, he kept quiet about the vision, leaving his guardians to wonder if he was getting ill.

During the following days, he saw the same people discuss the same matter, which seemed to be about a planned event, every night, and the dream became only worse. One night he even watched Nagini, the snake that obviously belonged to the creature, kill a Muggle, who had apparently been listening to the three men's conversation.

Harry opened his eyes, rolled to his side and got sick violently. With shaking hands he grabbed his wand from the night table and cast a scourgify spell at the floor, before he lay back and closed his eyes, waiting for the headache to recede some.

When McGonagall entered his room a few minutes before they had to leave for the Great Hall Harry was lying on his stomach, pressing his forehead against his pillow.

"Harry," she said softly, sitting down on the edge of his bed. "Is something wrong, Harry?"

The boy slowly turned to the side, giving his guardian a wary look from half open glassy eyes. "My head," he mumbled. "It's going to explode. I had visions now every night during the last couple of days. Voldemort in his spirit's form or whatever it is explains a plan to two men, but they seem to be so stupid that he has to tell them every night, because they asked the same questions again and again. And today he killed an innocent Muggle," Harry explained, before he closed his eyes again in pain.

"Harry, let me call Severus. He might be able to help you," Minerva said softly and worriedly stepped into her colleague's living room only to return with the man a minute later.

Snape quickly waved his wand over Harry, sighing, before he sat on down on the other side of his bed. "Harry, how bad is your headache? I can give you a potion, but you already have a slight fever, which would go up further," he asked the child in his soft and silky voice, causing Harry to slightly open his eyes once more.

"I already had this headache the whole week, but today was the first time I got sick, probably because he killed someone. Will it make a difference if you give me just a light headache potion or a normal one?"

The Potions master sighed. "Harry, I'm sorry, but I've no idea. As you know your problem is not only rare but a single case and we don't have much experience yet. I suggest that we ask Madam Pomfrey if she can obtain some Muggle headache medicine through Healer MacKenzie."

"I'll go and speak to Poppy," McGonagall volunteered and left the room.

"Harry, I'd like to see the memory of the vision," Snape told the child. "However, I dare not use Legilimency on you. Do you know what a Pensieve is, and would you be willing to put the memory into the Headmaster's Pensieve?"

Seeing that Harry gave him a confused look, Severus quickly explained what a Pensieve was and sent Minerva, who had returned in the meantime, to fetch the Headmaster's Pensieve. Twenty minutes later, Professors McGonagall, Snape, and Dumbledore watched Harry's dream in the Pensieve.

"We have to find his father's grave and vanish the bones completely," Dumbledore stated after they left the Pensieve.

"I know where his father's grave is likely to be," Snape spoke up thoughtfully. "Maybe I should ask Lupin and Black to help me. Did you recognize the men? The man in the front looks like Barty Crouch Junior, but that can't be since he's supposed to be dead, and the other one I don't know."

"Exactly," the Headmaster agreed and turned to Harry, who was listening to their conversation. "Harry, did they ever, during your other dreams, mention the names of the two people?"

"No sir," Harry replied firmly. "I only chose the last memory, because it holds all the information. There wasn't anything else interesting in the other memories."

"We can't let him pull more memories out to put into the Pensieve because it would aggravate his condition," Snape explained gently, causing Harry to throw his guardian a grateful look since the Muggle medicine hadn't helped with his headache at all.

"All right. I have to go and speak with Alastor Moody again. He's still fretting about how long he'll have to stay here to break the influences of the curse, so that Remus can return to teach," the Headmaster excused himself.

"At least Remus is staying in the castle and could help out if we needed it," Severus commented. "I'll go and speak with him about the cemetery."

"No Severus, you should have breakfast first," McGonagall slightly reprimanded her younger colleague, before she called Dobby and asked for breakfast for the three of them.

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A few nights later, Severus, Remus, and Sirius paid a visit to the cemetery in Little Hangleton where they searched for the family grave of the Riddles.

"That's it I think," Remus finally called out, pointing to a grave in the middle of the cemetery.

"Mary Riddle, Marvolo Riddle, and Tom Riddle," Sirius read from the stone. "That should be the right one."

Severus nodded contentedly and waved his wand at the grave, mumbling a long incantation.

"What was that?" Remus enquired, smiling.

"That was a spell in order to transfigure the grave's contents into dragon dung," the Potions professor replied dryly and held out the Portkey that would take them back to Hogwarts.

"Harry, it might be that you'll have a very unpleasant vision in the future, if he by chance found out what happened to his father's bones," Snape warned Harry when he was back to Hogwarts.

However, fortunately, Harry didn't have any more visions during the next weeks, so that he could enjoy the rest of his holidays. Only in the morning of the first of September, while he was helping Minerva to sort the timetables for the four Houses, he was pulled into a vision again. He couldn't understand much from the conversation between Voldemort's spirit and the man, who had turned his back towards him in the vision before; he only realized that it had something to do with Hogwarts and with Alastor Moody. When the Voldemort creature mentioned Harry's name however, he had the impression as if his head was going to explode. As before, he put the memory into the Pensieve, so that his guardians and the Headmaster could watch it. Unfortunately, none of them was much wiser afterwards.

"Harry, are you feeling well enough to attend the Welcoming feast?" McGonagall asked in concern, putting a cold hand on his forehead when she woke him up from a long nap late in the afternoon.

Harry sighed. "I don't feel very well, but I want to finally meet my friends," he replied warily, shivering a bit at his guardian's cold touch.

"Let's see how high your fever is," Minerva told him uncertainly, transfiguring a tissue into a Muggle thermometer. "Or would you prefer I called Poppy?"

"No," Harry said softly, grudgingly opening his mouth. '_Pomfrey can't help me anyway, so there's no need to call her_,' he mused, while they were waiting for the reading in silence.

"38.3 Harry. If you're sure that you can manage to sit in the Great Hall, watch the Sorting, and eat something, you may go, provided that you return to your room and go back to bed immediately afterwards. The Welcoming feast might last a few minutes longer than usual, because Professor Dumbledore has an announcement to make," McGonagall added pensively.

After his visions during the holidays, his guardians had suggested that he should better spend the nights in his own room during the school year, so that they'd be able to help him if he had problems, and Harry had agreed in relief.

"I'll be all right," he finally said, giving his guardian a grateful smile when she exchanged his pyjamas with his school clothes with a wave of her wand. "Thanks a lot, Minerva."

As happy as he was to see his friends again, Hermione and Ron made such a fuss over him, especially when he continued to play with his food instead of eating, that Harry was glad when the Headmaster began to speak about the Triwizard Tournament.

After promising his friends that he would definitely attend classes in the morning, Harry returned to his room and went back to bed just a few minutes before McGonagall came and told him that she would be in her office in case he needed her.

Feeling not well enough to read but not tired enough to sleep, Harry pulled the Marauders' Map from his night table and lazily watched the black points in the four Houses walk around their common rooms and finally retire to their dormitories. '_That's strange_,' he suddenly mused, seeing two people, whom he wouldn't have imagined to see them together.

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HP

_Thanks for your kind reviews! I am not a native speaker of English. So please excuse my mistakes – or tell me, so that I can correct them!_

_All recognizable characters belong to J.K.Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story._


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

In the Defence against the Dark Arts office the map showed two black points, one labelled 'Alastor Moody' and one 'Barty Crouch.' While the first dot remained unmoving all the time, the second dot moved around the office from time to time. Suddenly, Harry remembered where he had heard the name Barty Crouch before. '_That's strange_,' he mused and scrambled out of bed. Knowing that Severus was still attending to his new first years in the Slytherin common room, he headed over through Minerva's private quarters into her office. Fortunately, she was alone and looked up immediately when Harry entered the room.

Before she could even ask what was wrong, Harry showed her the map, pointing to the two dots in the Defence teacher's office, causing his guardian's face to take on a stern expression.

"Harry, please go back to bed and leave the map to me for tonight. I'm going to speak to Professor Dumbledore immediately. I'll send Madam Pomfrey to check on you later," she added, seeing that the boy was shivering.

"All right," Harry said and went back to his room, leaving the map behind.

A few minutes later, Madam Pomfrey entered his room and checked on him, before she finally made him drink a phial of Severus' Muggle fever reducer. "I can't find anything wrong except for your headache and the fever, which must still be caused by the vision you had earlier," she told him, sitting on the edge of his bed for a few minutes. "I'm sorry, but since the Muggle headache pills don't work for this kind of headache, I can't give you anything else. If you don't feel better tomorrow morning, please stay in bed. Minerva will excuse you with your teachers. Good night, Harry." She gently tucked him in and hurriedly left the room to tend to her first patients in the hospital wing.

Harry was already drifting off to asleep when Severus strode into his room and sat down next to him. "Harry, can you tell me how to cancel the map and how to revive it again please?" he whispered urgently.

"'Mischief managed' to close the map and 'I solemnly swear that I'm up to no good' to start it," Harry replied lazily. Slowly opening his eyes just a little bit he asked, "Dad, what are you going to do?"

Startled by the name the boy had called him for the first time, Severus gave the child an astonished look, noticing that he was feverish and half asleep. "We'll pay the office a visit; only the Headmaster will go in and speak to him, while Minerva, Lupin, and I are going to listen in from the outside. If we can't find anything out tonight then maybe tomorrow. I'll come back later and inform you," he promised, before he lightly brushed a small kiss on the boy's forehead and stood up to leave the room, seeing from the corner of his eye that Harry already drifted off to sleep.

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Early in the morning, Harry was again plagued with a vision. In his dream, he saw the creature that had to be Voldemort's spirit together with the man from the other visions.

"Our man told me that he arrived at Hogwarts and that everything is well," the man told the creature while he fed him something to make him stronger as Harry had already heard in one of the earlier visions.

"He will provide us with Harry Potter," the creature replied impatiently. "You have to see to it that everything else goes well. You need an extremely huge cauldron that fulfils all the required conditions. Remember, the old man's bones will go into it as well as a huge amount of Harry Potter's blood and..."

"I could provide you with someone else, so that we could pull the whole thing through much earlier," the man interrupted the spirit, causing the creature to sigh in annoyance.

"I already told you that I want Potter. Don't force me to tell you the reason right now. I'm hungry," Voldemort hissed, glaring at his servant, who shut up immediately.

Harry jerked awake and groaned in agony, pressing both hands against his forehead. Just when Severus entered the room, notified by a spell that his ward had woken up or was in distress, Harry turned to the side emptying the contents of his stomach into a bucket, which the Potions Master conjured quickly.

When Harry was finished and Severus had vanished the bucket, Harry filled him in about his vision, promising to show him the memory later on. In the meantime, Minerva had also woken up and came into the room when she saw that Severus was already talking to Harry.

"Harry, we still have your map; in fact Lupin has it," Snape informed the child. "If Crouch still shows up on the map, Lupin and Professor Dumbledore will interrogate him together with Aurors Shacklebolt, Tonks, and Black." He quickly waved his wand at the boy. "Harry, you will stay in bed at least until lunchtime when I'll come and check on you again. You're in no condition to attend classes, and you'll be safer here anyway."

Feeling awful enough not to contradict, Harry grudgingly agreed and slept through the morning until Remus Lupin hesitantly entered his room and sat down on a chair next to his bed, placing the Marauders' Map on the night table.

"What happened?" Harry asked, sitting up in excitement.

"It was indeed Barty Crouch Junior under Polyjuice Potion representing Alastor Moody, who was captured in his own trunk in his office. He'll have to stay in the hospital wing for a few days, while Crouch is on his way to Azkaban, where he'll be kissed during the day," the werewolf informed Harry, smiling at the excited child. "The Aurors promised to keep quiet on the matter, so that the person, who sent Crouch here, won't be alerted of his capture, at least not so soon."

"Oh that's good," Harry replied in relief, not feeling too eager to endure any more visions in the near future.

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During the next months, the school's attention was drawn to the Triwizard Tournament. Just like probably every other Hogwarts student, Harry supported the sole Hogwarts champion, Cedric Diggory. Harry didn't have any more visions and apart from one week in April during which he had missed classes due to a bad cold his health had been fairly well throughout the year.

However, a few days before the last task of the Triward Tournament he began to have visions again.

"I'm going to prepare everything on the cemetery and set up the cauldron, before I'll take a Portkey to Hogwarts to get the boy and bring him back with the same Portkey. Everything is already arranged," the man, of whom Harry still didn't know who it was, told Voldemort.

Harry shared the vision with his guardians and the Headmaster, who immediately called all the teachers together to place strong wards on the castle and the grounds that would prevent the usage of Portkeys to and from Hogwarts.

On the day of the third task, Harry felt that his scar was prickling the whole day. However, so far it didn't really hurt and he didn't have a vision for about three days. As excited as his Housemates he sat down together with his friends to watch the third task and cheer for their champion, Cedric, who held the top position so far. However, the champions were still speaking to their Headmasters, when he was pulled into a vision.

The vision was full of emotions, mostly disappointment, anger, and rage. In horror and pain, Harry watched how Voldemort, who was still in the form in which Harry had seen him ten months ago, hissed at his servant because of his complete failure. "You should have made sure that my father's bones were there a long time ago," he hissed and shouted at the man, before finally his rage became too much for Harry and the boy passed out, unconscious with a bleeding forehead.

"Professor Snape!" Hermione shouted to the teacher, who was sitting nearest to them.

Severus scooped Harry into his arms and carried him back to his room, alerting Madam Pomfrey on his way.

"He will certainly try something else, although I suspect that there won't be any other way for him to get his body back," Dumbledore said thoughtfully, when the teachers left the Pensieve after watching Harry's memory.

"Harry, please promise me that you'll be extremely careful," McGonagall told the boy in a soft voice, gently stroking his flushed cheeks.

During the last week of the school year, Harry was forced to stay in bed with a terrible headache and a fever. However, his friends were allowed to visit him and occupied his room with a few exceptions during class time over the whole day, keeping him entertained.

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This time Harry especially enjoyed the summer holidays. As much as he loved his friends it was very soothing to have the castle so empty and quiet after so many additional people had been here for a full school year. Like in the previous years, Harry spent much time helping Professor Snape with the potions he had to brew for the hospital wing.

One day, Snape made Harry sit down on the sofa in the living room. "Harry, I'd like to ask you something. You've already helped me prepare the ingredients for the Wolfsbane potion a few times. As you probably know that potion is very difficult to brew and it takes a lot of time. Moreover, it is difficult and only few people are able to brew it. If you were willing to learn it, I'd want to teach you."

Harry threw the teacher a surprised glance. "If you believe that I'll be able to brew such a difficult potion, then I'd like to learn it," he replied without even having to think about the matter.

"You, Ms. Granger, and Draco would be able to brew such a potion; however, since you're the only one staying with me, I don't have to consider, whom to teach," Severus told him, smirking.

"Is Professor Lupin going to teach Defence against the Dark Arts again?" Harry enquired, knowing that his guardian always brewed the potion for him.

Snape sighed. "No, not this year. The Ministry is sending a professor to teach Defence this year, completely stupid if you ask me. They merely want to have more influence on Hogwarts, which is difficult because Professor Dumbledore is so strong. Well, we'll see. If necessary I can teach you again in private."

"Thanks a lot," Harry replied, feeling extremely relieved at the thought.

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Like in the previous years, the teacher organized a huge birthday party for Harry, inviting all his friends and classmates, and Harry enjoyed the day very much. In the evening, Minerva and Severus motioned him over into his own room, while their colleagues were having tea in Minerva's living room.

"Harry, we'd like to discuss something with you," Minerva began to speak. Seeing that Harry gave her a questioning look, she continued, "Severus and I would like to adopt you, if you want that too. You've become like a son to both of us; therefore, we thought that we could make it as well official. Although Severus and I are not married or anything else, we'd be able to adopt you together."

"However, we want to know how you think about it. We won't be angry if you say 'No.'," Severus added softly.

Harry's eyes began to twinkle with joy. "Do you really mean that?" he asked incredulously. "Sorry, I mean, yes, I'd like that. You're already like real parents to me, and I always have to be careful not to call you Mum or Dad," he admitted in a small voice.

"Harry, are you really sure about that?" Minerva asked gently, giving the child a piercing look.

"Yes, I'm sure," Harry replied firmly.

"Very well," Severus said, pulling a parchment out of his robe pocket. "In that case you only need to choose your future name and put your signature here."

"Name?" Harry asked in confusion, before he realized what the problem was. '_Well, Harry James Potter-McGonagall-Snape would definitely be too long_,' he mused.

"You could either just leave it at Potter," Severus suggested, "or you could add Potter to your first names and take McGonagall-Snape as your last name."

Finally, Harry decided to officially take the triple name but to use his old name unofficially. He quickly signed the parchment that vanished immediately afterwards.

"Harry, of course you may call us Mum and Dad if you feel like it," Minerva told him, pulling him into a slight embrace.

"You already called me that before, and I didn't find it inadequate," Severus added.

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The rest of the holidays passed in a blur, and finally Harry found himself back in the Great Hall for the Welcoming feast. Topic of the evening was Professor Umbridge, who seemed extremely strange to the Gryffindors. Harry was animatedly talking with the Weasley twins when all of a sudden his scar began to hurt like it had before after his visions or back in his first year when Professor Quirrel had been possessed by Voldemort. 'Oh no!' Harry groaned horrified. '_Don't let him be here at Hogwarts again_.'

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HP

_Thanks for your kind reviews! I am not a native speaker of English. So please excuse my mistakes – or tell me, so that I can correct them!_

_All recognizable characters belong to J.K.Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story._


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

After the Welcoming feast, Harry went back to his own room, and as soon as he heard his adoptive parents return to their quarters he told them about his suspicion that Voldemort was back in Hogwarts, causing the adults to agree that it would be better if Harry stayed at home during the nights.

When Professor Umbridge told them that they would merely learn theory but not practise any spells in their first Defence against the Dark Arts class Harry couldn't help speaking up. "And how are we supposed to defend ourselves if Voldemort manages to get his body back like he's been trying now for a while?" he asked in a very upset voice.

"You-know-Who has been dead for many years. How would he be able to come back? Don't be stupid, Mr. Potter. Or are you delirious? Yes, I know everything about your health condition, and you better not tell lies in class."

"It's not a lie," Harry hissed through gritted teeth, shaking Hermione's hand off when the girl tried to calm him.

"Well, let's have some nice few hours of detention together in my office tonight. Maybe you'll consider if it's worth to tell lies," the Professor finally ended the conversation, shooting Harry a false smile.

A few minutes after curfew that evening, Harry returned to his room, feeling completely drained. He had a tremendous headache, his hand was sore, and he felt dizzy again. He threw himself onto his bed, not even bothering to take his shoes or his robe off, and buried his aching head in the pillow.

Having heard that Harry had come back, Minerva glanced in his room only to inwardly groan when she saw the boy. She walked over to him and sat down on the edge of his bed. With a flick of her wand, his outfit was changed into pyjamas, before she gently rubbed his back and asked softly, "What happened, Harry? What's wrong?"

Harry slowly turned to the side, mumbling, "It must be Umbridge, who is possessed. I just came from detention with her, and I've a splitting headache."

McGonagall gave him a piercing look, noticing that his eyes were glazed over feverishly. She gently felt his forehead and gasped. "Harry, let me get Severus to check on you."

"Kay," Harry mumbled, closing his eyes again.

A few minutes later he felt the magic of Severus' running a diagnostic spell on him and lazily opened his eyes again.

"Harry, what happened? What have you been doing tonight?" Snape asked, throwing the child a concerned look.

"I had detention with Umbridge, and I think she's possessed, because my head began to hurt in her office."

"Minerva already said that, and we're going to speak with the Headmaster about it in a few minutes. However, as much as your scar hurt before, it didn't cause you to get such a high fever. Is anything else wrong?"

"My hand," Harry remembered, hesitantly showing his hand to his adoptive parents.

"What's wrong with your hand?" McGonagall asked, looking at his hand in confusion.

"She made me write lines saying that I wouldn't need ink, but when I wrote my hand hurt," Harry explained slowly.

Snape, who was examining the hand closely, suddenly let out a gasp. "A blood quill? She used a blood quill on Harry, which is a one-way ticket to Azkaban." He strode back to his living room, shouting into the fireplace, "Albus, please come over immediately and bring your Pensieve!"

Seconds later, Harry heard the fireplace in the teacher's living room flare and quickly sat up, right before the Headmaster joined them giving his colleagues an enquiring look. Snape motioned Harry to put the memory of his detention into the Pensieve while McGonagall told the Headmaster what they had found out.

After the teachers had viewed the memory, the Headmaster sighed. "Please accompany me to my office, Minerva, Severus, and Harry. I will call the Aurors as well as Professor Umbridge."

"Harry, do you feel well enough to come with us for an hour?" Severus asked softly, but the Headmaster fell in before Harry could reply.

"Severus, Harry has to come with us. Probably, the Aurors will want to question him."

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Twenty minutes later, Aurors Shacklebolt, Tonks, and Sirius Black arrived in the Headmaster's office, where Dumbledore quickly explained what had happened. The Aurors listened patiently, and after Snape told them that Harry was sure about the obsession with Voldemort's spirit due to his experiences four years ago, Shacklebolt spoke up.

"If Ms. Umbridge admits under Veritaserum to have used a blood quill on Harry, she'll be given a quick trial tomorrow morning and be on her way to Azkaban for the Dementors' kiss. What will happen to You-know-Who's spirit though?"

Dumbledore mumbled something that the others couldn't understand and headed to the fireplace to call Professor Umbridge.

As soon as the professor stepped through the fireplace, Dumbledore unobtrusively waved his wand at the woman, while Harry painfully put a hand to his forehead, causing McGonagall to pull him into a slight embrace.

"Ms. Umbridge," Shacklebolt raised his voice. "You're being accused of making your students use a blood quill..."

The woman pulled her wand, pointing it at Harry. "Cru..."

"Expelliarmus!" Dumbledore's spell hit Umbridge, before she could finish casting the unforgivable curse at Harry.

Snape handed Shacklebolt a small phial, and Sirius and his colleague approached the woman, overwhelmed her, and put three drops of Veritaserum on her tongue.

"What is your name?" Shacklebolt asked.

"Dolores Jane Umbridge."

"Did you use a blood quill on Harry Potter?"

"Yes. He deserved it for telling other students the truth about You-know-Who criticizing my teaching methods."

"Are you possessed by the spirit of Lord Voldemort?"

"Yes, but I can't do anything against it."

"Did you intend to throw an unforgivable curse at Harry Potter because he told about the blood quill?"

"Yes, he deserved it."

"I believe that's enough," Shacklebolt decided. "Tomorrow morning, you'll get your trial, before you'll be brought to Azkaban for the Dementors' kiss." He held Umbridge in a strong grip, touching her with his ring, while he mumbled the activation password for a Portkey, which took them straight to the Ministry.

Dumbledore turned to Sirius and Tonks. "Please take a seat and let's have a cup of tea together." Seeing that McGonagall was calling a house elf to order tea and biscuits, he once more headed to the fireplace and called, "Remus Lupin, please come into my office immediately."

A minute later, Remus stepped out of the fireplace, looking around in surprise. "What happened?"

"Will you be willing to teach Defence against the Dark Arts again commencing tomorrow?" Dumbledore asked gently.

"Of course," Remus smiled.

"Professor," Harry spoke up hesitantly. "Excuse me, but what will happen to Voldemort's spirit? Will he leave her and find someone else?"

Dumbledore sighed, absentmindedly stroking Fawkes' head feathers.

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HP

_Thanks for your kind reviews! I am not a native speaker of English. So please excuse my mistakes – or tell me, so that I can correct them!_

_All recognizable characters belong to J.K.Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story._


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

"When she arrived here in the office, I cast a spell on her," the Headmaster slowly began to explain. "In fact, Professor Flitwick invented it for me four years ago, but it was too late to use it on Professor Quirrel. The spell binds two spirits together, so that the possessing spirit can't get out anymore. In our case, Umbridge and Voldemort will be affected by the Dementors' kiss as a whole."

"That's absolutely brilliant, Professor," Sirius blurted out, causing everyone to laugh.

"Yes, I believe that this is one of Professor Flitwick's most accomplished charms," Dumbledore agreed.

"Do you think he'll really be gone then?" Harry asked tiredly.

"Of course we can't know for sure, but I believe so, Harry. You and Severus could even feel pain through your connections, if he dies. Umbridge's body will remain at Azkaban, but since Voldemort doesn't have a body, nothing should be left of him when the Dementors are through with Umbridge," the Headmaster explained patiently.

"All right, sir. May I be excused?" Harry asked politely.

"Of course, my boy; thank you, Harry, for your valuable information. Severus and Minerva, I believe that at least one of you should accompany Harry to be sure that he doesn't collapse in the halls."

Minerva and Severus exchanged a glance, and Minerva replied, "We'll both go with Harry, Albus. Good night."

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In the morning, Harry was in no condition to attend classes, and Severus, whom Minerva had called to check on Harry, suggested that he should spend the morning in the hospital wing, so that he wouldn't be alone in case something happened.

Around lunchtime, the Headmaster entered the hospital wing, making himself comfortable on a chair next to Harry's bed. "So far everything went well. Umbridge is going to be taken to Azkaban and given the kiss now any minute."

"Let's hope that your plan works, so that Harry can finally get some rest from You-Know-Who," Madam Pomfrey said, gently bathing Harry's flushed face. "Harry has to eat lunch now, Albus. Shall I order some for you as well, or do you need to be present in the Great Hall?"

"I'm going to stay with Harry for a while. Why don´t you join us too, Poppy?"

Knowing that it would be easier to coax Harry into eating something if he had company, Pomfrey asked a house elf to bring lunch for the three of them.

'_How am I supposed to be hungry after doing nothing the whole morning?_' Harry thought in annoyance but obediently ate a few carrots, before he all of a sudden let go of his fork to grip his forehead and groan in agony.

"Harry, what's wrong?" Dumbledore enquired gently, while Pomfrey quickly removed Harry's lunch from his bed and gently lowered him into a horizontal position.

After a minute, Harry slowly relaxed and replied, "I could only feel a wave of anger and pain through my scar, but then all of a sudden it was gone."

"Does your head still hurt?" Pomfrey asked, pointing her wand to his head.

Before Harry could even reply, the door to the hospital wing was flung open and Severus strode into the room.

"The Dark Mark," he addressed the Headmaster, catching his breath, "it's gone. It burned badly for a minute and then faded into non existence."

"Then he must be really gone for good this time," the Headmaster replied smiling with a happy twinkle in his blue eyes. "Congratulation, my boys."

"Thank God," Severus said in relief and sat down on the edge of Harry's bed, gently taking the child's hand into his own slender, cool hand.

"Dad," Harry whispered happily, shifting a bit to the side, so that his adoptive father could pull his head onto his lap.

"I'm very glad too, son," the man told him, gently brushing an errand strand of hair out of his sweaty face. "Try to sleep, Harry, so that you'll get better soon."

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With the threat of the visions gone and a decent Defence against the Dark Arts teacher again, Harry could enjoy his fifth Hogwarts year very much. He was finally back to staying in his dormitory in Gryffindor and spent the evenings studying for his OWLs together with Hermione and Ron.

Once a month Harry helped his father brew the Wolfsbane potion and by the end of the school year he was able to brew the difficult potion flawlessly on his own, knowing that it had to be extremely accurate and that Severus was watching him like a hawk.

Fortunately, Harry was able to do very well on his OWLs and was delighted when both his adoptive parents commended him greatly for his achievements.

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A few days before the beginning of his sixth year, Minerva motioned Harry over into her living room for a talk.

"Harry, as you know we held the career advice for the fifth years during the last school year, which you missed, because you were ill at that time," Minerva began. "Do you have an idea what you'd like to do after you finish your NEWTs?"

Harry sighed. '_Ron wants to become an Auror like Sirius, but I can't do that because of my health problems_,' he thought sadly. "My best subjects in my OWLs were Defence, Potions, and Transfiguration," he said pensively, "but I don't have an idea so far."

Minerva threw him a fond smile. "That means that you can choose nearly everything. However, we have to consider your health condition, which eliminates certain professions like that of an Auror for example. There are jobs in the Healing or teaching area, which might be adequate for you, or you might consider attending a Muggle university to specialize in a certain field of Muggle science or an apprenticeship to a Master in the wizarding world."

"I'd love to teach," Harry replied thoughtfully. "Um... Do I have to decide right now?"

Minerva smiled. "No Harry, you don't have to decide now; we merely ask the students at this stage, because some professions require certain NEWTs. For example, if you wanted to do something in the area of Healing, you'd have to take the NEWTs in Potions and Herbology, especially as in your case it would be more advisable to go into research than to become a Healer for example, due to your health problem."

"Ah okay," Harry said in relief.

"However, you have to decide, which subjects you want to take during the next school year," Minerva continued and helped Harry to decide on a manageable amount of classes.

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"Professor Lupin really seems to have broken the curse that Voldemort put on the Defence position," Harry breathed in complete amazement when he saw Remus sitting at the head table upon entering the Great Hall together with Severus to wait for the students, who were supposed to arrive with the carriages from the station any minute now.

"You know what that means, don't you, Harry?" Severus smirked, causing Harry to throw him an amused glance.

"I'll be pleased to brew the Wolfsbane every month, if that means to have Professor Lupin teach Defence," he laughed.

"You may only help if you don't neglect your school work and still get enough sleep," Severus replied sternly.

"I'll be careful, Dad," Harry promised.

Suddenly, the sounds of the arriving students could be heard from the entrance hall, and only seconds later, the doors were flung open and hundreds of children stormed into the Great Hall.

"Take care, Harry, and come home if you have any problems," Severus said quietly, before he approached the head table with his black robes billowing behind him.

Harry sat down at the Gryffindor table, glad when his best friends joined him a few minutes later. However, Harry noticed soon that the mood among his friends was very subdued.

'_What's wrong with them?_' Harry mused in confusion. '_If they don't speak with me anyway, I could as well go back to my own room_.'

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HP

_Thanks for your kind reviews! I am not a native speaker of English. So please excuse my mistakes – or tell me, so that I can correct them!_

_All recognizable characters belong to J.K.Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story._


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

"Harry!" Ginny's voice penetrated his ear when he turned to the stairs leading up to his own room. "Where are you going?"

Hearing Harry's explanation the girl let out a snort. "What do you think we had to endure during the holidays?" she asked. "You know that Ron and Hermione were going out together, don't you? Anyway, they split up two weeks ago, and since then they hardly spoke to each other or to anyone else. Unfortunately, the reason why they broke up with each other is that Ron thinks Hermione loves you more than him."

"Me?" Harry asked, looking at Ginny in absolute surprise. "But we..."

"Well, let's go to the common room. If it's too bad you can still go home later on," she coaxed him to follow her up to Gryffindor.

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During the following weeks, Hermione returned to her usual self very quickly while Ron seemed to be extremely jealous of Harry, especially as Harry had several NEWT classes together with Hermione, to which Ron hadn't been admitted due to his OWL results.

Finally, when the test week approached, which was the week before the Christmas holidays, the three friends resumed their studies together.

"Harry, don't you have Quidditch practice tonight?" Hermione asked her friend on the first day of the test week, knowing that Ron had to serve detention with Mr. Filch.

"I told them that I couldn't attend practice tonight," Harry replied softly while he sat down next to the girl on the sofa in the Gryffindor common room, averting his eyes to his Charms book. '_Thank God that the Defence test is already over_,' he mused in relief when Hermione's voice pulled him out of his thoughts.

"Why, Harry? Aren't you feeling well, or are you afraid you didn't study enough?" she asked in concern, giving him a piercing look.

"I feel as if I'd caught a cold," Harry admitted in a small voice, "and since potions don't work, I thought I'd better not play Quidditch. I don't want it to get worse, so that I'll have to miss my tests."

"That was very reasonable, Harry," the girl commended him, before she gently extended a hand to feel his forehead. "Harry, nevertheless I think you have a fever. You should better go to bed." She stood up and cleaned up her workspace, packing all the books in her bag, before she pried the Charms book out of Harry's hands and motioned him to accompany her to the boys' dormitory.

She made him lie down on his bed, before she waved her wand at him, exchanging his school clothes with his pyjamas, causing Harry to give her an amazed look. "Thanks Hermione," he whispered, noticing that it hurt to speak aloud.

"I'll you teach you that spell tomorrow," Hermione promised, while she carefully tucked him in. "Harry, stay awake for a moment; I still have some Muggle medicine from my Mum, so I'll just go to my dormitory and get it." Before Harry could protest she hurried away. A few minutes later, the girl came back, pulling a Muggle thermometer and two small packages with Muggle medicine out of her robe pocket. "Open up and let me take your temperature, Harry," she ordered him sternly, before she stuck the thermometer in and used the time while they were waiting to gently wipe his face with a cool cloth.

"38.5," she told him, frowning. "Harry, don't you think it would be better if I called Madam Pomfrey or one of your parents?"

"No Mione, I'll be fine. They can't give me potions anyway; plus they might keep me in bed tomorrow, and I don't want to miss the tests," Harry explained pleadingly.

Hermione grudgingly agreed and handed him two small pills followed by a glass of water. "I always took this when I had a cold before I came to Hogwarts or during the holidays, and it always helped; of course it's nothing compared to potions. The medicine will make you sleep as well," she explained while she made herself comfortable on the edge of Harry's bed. Seeing that Harry was giving her an anxious glance, she gently stroked his flushed cheeks. "Don't worry; I'll stay with you during the night and look after you. If it's inevitable, I'll call your Mum, but I think you'll be all right," she whispered soothingly.

"Thanks Mione," Harry mumbled, already drifting off to sleep.

Hermione remained at his side reading a book until the other boys came into the dormitory after curfew. She shortly explained that she was looking after Harry, who wasn't feeling well, causing her classmates to give her an approving nod. Only Ron offered that he could look after his friend, but Hermione refused stating that he didn't know as much about Muggle medicine as she did. She gently pulled Harry's pyjama top down over his shoulder and took his temperature under his armpit as not to wake him up, frowning when she saw that his fever hadn't come down in spite of the medicine.

'_Well, at least it didn't get much worse so far_,' she mused, while she shut the curtains around the bed and lay down next to Harry, pointing her wand at her watch to set an alarm that would make her wake up before everyone else.

Unbeknownst to the girl, Harry woke up extremely early in the morning, because he had to use the bathroom. Astonished to see Hermione lying next to him, he scrambled out of his bed, careful as not to wake her, and slowly walked to the bathroom. When he returned, he lay down, carefully draping the covers over the two of them, before he went back to sleep.

An hour later, Hermione's alarm went off, and the girl quickly retreated to her dormitory to change into fresh clothes and get ready for class, before she returned to Harry's side, sitting down on the edge of his bed with her book like the evening before.

Harry smiled inwardly when he saw his best friend sitting next to him. "Did you ever go back to your dormitory? Are you sure that you got enough sleep?" he asked in concern.

"Of course, Harry; I just came back," Hermione replied softly. "How do you feel?"

"Not too bad," Harry sighed. "At least I slept a lot."

Hermione smirked. "I know; this cold medicine makes you tired. I hope you won't fall asleep over your Charms test, provided that you feel well enough to attend classes." She quickly took Harry's temperature, before she handed him another two pills and some water.

"Harry, I don't think it's a good idea to attend classes, seeing that your fever is as high as it was in the evening, but at least promise me that you'll tell me or the teachers if you feel worse."

"I'll tell you then. Thanks for looking after me, Mione," Harry replied gratefully.

"You're welcome, Harry. I'll do the same tonight. I'm going to wait in the common room," Hermione said softly and brushed a small kiss against his forehead that was so quick that Harry later mused if he had only imagined it due to his fever.

Harry dragged himself through the day. Fortunately, he felt alert enough to manage both the theoretical and the practical part of the Charms test with ease, but he didn't protest when Hermione put him back into bed right after the end of the class. Noticing that Harry felt worse than on the day before and that his fever was a degree higher, she made him take the medicine and spent the rest of the afternoon bathing his flushed face and making leg compresses to get his fever down.

"I'm sorry to be such a burden," Harry apologized sleepily, feeling her cold hand on his forehead.

"You're not a burden, Harry," Hermione replied softly. "I want you to become better soon."

"Thanks Mione, feels good, love you," Harry mumbled while he drifted off to sleep.

"I love you too, Harry," Hermione whispered, continuing to caress his flushed cheeks.

All of a sudden, McGonagall entered the room, causing Hermione to jump off Harry's bed. Before the teacher could voice anything, Hermione quickly placed a silencing charm around Harry's bed, so that he wouldn't be disturbed by their conversation.

"I'm sorry, Professor," she apologized. "Harry has a cold, but it's not so bad and he didn't want to miss his tests and didn't want anyone to know, so I took care of him here. I gave him a Muggle fever reducer and Muggle cold medicine. He has just drifted off to sleep. Please let him stay here, and let me care for him," she begged her Head of House.

Minerva sighed. "Why didn't you tell me? I was so worried when you both missed dinner tonight, especially after Harry didn't eat properly at breakfast and lunch either. Are you sure that it's a cold and not anything else?"

Hermione cleared her throat. "Well, he told me that it was a cold with a headache and a sore throat, and his fever is just a bit over 38 degrees. When he came back from classes it was a tad higher, but it should have come down again by now. I'm watching over him all the time, and if he got worse, I'd call you immediately, Professor."

"All right," Minerva grudgingly agreed. "Please take good care of him. You are the only one of the students, who is aware of his health problems," she added worriedly.

"Professor, don't worry. I'll be careful. I love Harry, and I wouldn't want him to get worse," Hermione insisted, and Minerva noticed that tears were welling in the girl's eyes.

"Thank you, Hermione. I'll be in my office in case you have any problems," she replied softly.

Hermione spent two more nights nursing Harry back to health, and on Friday evening, he began to feel slightly better. "You still have a temperature and you'll probably have to stay in bed for at least another day, but then you'll be fine," Hermione told Harry after checking on him, sitting behind him on his bed to steady his back while she took his temperature.

"Thanks a lot, Hermione," Harry replied, tiredly leaning into her robes. "Mione, may I ask you something?" he asked hesitantly, feeling his voice croak.

"Of course," Hermione whispered back.

"Would you... Um... Would you be willing to become my girlfriend?" Harry asked hoarsely, knowing that the girl had cuddled with him for three nights, believing that he didn't notice her presence in his bed.

"I'd love to be your girlfriend, Harry. I love you," Hermione replied softly, before she captured his mouth with hers.

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Except for Ron, who was terribly jealous of Harry, everyone was happy for Harry and Hermione and cheered, and Minerva and Severus were very contented with Harry's choice. While nearly all other students from third year onwards were heading to Hogsmeade on Saturday for their Christmas shopping, Hermione and Harry spent the last day before the students went home for Christmas in Harry's dormitory since Harry was still feverish and in no condition to go on his first date to Hogsmeade.

"Don't worry, Harry, there'll be more Hogsmeade weekends, and perhaps you could ask your mother to organize one for Valentine's Day," Hermione said soothingly, pulling him into a kiss.

"Okay," Harry agreed when she finally released him, smiling.

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On Harry's pleading, Minerva talked the Headmaster into making Valentine's Day a Hogsmeade day for the older students. The two sixth years enjoyed the day very much and kept far from all the other students for most of the day. Since Minerva and Severus had often taken Harry to Hogsmeade during the holidays he knew the town better than most of the students and could lead Hermione to less frequented spots. Only late in the afternoon, they returned to the main street, where they stopped dead in their tracks.

A dragon was just attacking the main street, where many students were still enjoying their free afternoon.

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HP

_Thanks for your kind reviews! I am not a native speaker of English. So please excuse my mistakes – or tell me, so that I can correct them!_

_All recognizable characters belong to J.K.Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story._


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

"Accio Firebolt," Harry mumbled, before he turned to his girlfriend. "Hermione, go into Honeydukes and enter the cellar. You'll find a trap door, which leads to a passage straight to Hogwarts. Please use the passage and return to the castle. You must inform Dumbledore and ask him to send Fawkes for me. I'm going to lead the dragon away."

Before Hermione could protest, the Firebolt came into Harry's outstretched hand. Without turning back he mounted it and flew over to the dragon. Remembering that Hagrid had once told him dragons would understand Parseltongue, Harry addressed the dragon.

"What are you doing here?" he hissed.

"People took me here a while ago, and they destroyed my eggs just for fun," the dragon complained, causing Harry to remember the Triwizard Tournament.

"That was not here in the town; please follow me," he replied and flew ahead, causing the dragon to follow him away from the town over to a clearing far in the Forbidden forest, where Harry remained on his broom but hovered just a few metres over the ground. The dragon landed right next to him and demanded, "Take me to the girl, who destroyed my eggs."

Harry sighed. "She's not here. She lives in Beauxbatons, which is a school in France. That's far away and I've no idea how to get there."

'_Will I be able to stun a dragon with a mere spell?_' he mused doubtfully, while he talked to the Dragon to win time, hoping that she'd give up or that he'd have an idea how to get rid of her.

Harry was still talking to the dragon when Fawkes showed up together with Dumbledore. The Headmaster gave Harry a horrified look, before he fired a strong stunning spell at the dragon, who seemed slightly weakened but answered by breathing a huge wave of fire at Harry.

"Harry, let's try the strongest stunning spell possible together, on three," Dumbledore shouted, counting, "one, two, three."

The instant the dragon slumped down stunned, Harry fell from his broom, unconsciously. The Headmaster quickly threw another strong stunning spell at the dragon, before he asked Fawkes to take them to the hospital wing urgently.

Fawkes placed Harry on a bed, and Dumbledore hurried to get Pomfrey, who looked at the boy, terrified. A few waves of her wand later, she turned to Minerva and Severus, who had arrived in the meantime.

"He has completely depleted his magic, which shouldn't be a problem and should be all right again in a week; however, the dragon obviously hit him with a huge wave of fire and magic. His left side has many second degree burns, which I can only heal with magic, but probably due to the magic applied he already has a fever of nearly 42 degrees." While she was speaking she already transfigured the bed into a bathtub to cool Harry down a few degrees.

"Frankly speaking, I'm at a loss," she admitted, trying hard to fight back the tears that threatened to pour down from her eyes any second.

"Let's call Healer McKenzie," Severus suggested, heading to the fireplace.

'_Harry saved hundreds of students and Hogsmeade people today; please let him survive_,' Minerva pleaded silently, gently helping Pomfrey to cool down the child.

A few minutes later, Healer McKenzie and a few other Healers and Potions Masters from St. Mungo's hurried into the room, waving their wands at the boy.

While Minerva continued trying to cool her adoptive son, the Healers and Potions Masters conferred about possible methods to save the child.

"I believe that we have to use the charm to kill and revive the immune system, but I'm open for other ideas," McKenzie told his colleagues.

"I could imagine a fever reducing potion with Lily of the valley leaves instead of birch bark," one of the Potion Masters suggested.

"No, that won't work, because you'd have to replace the moon fern as well, and that's near to impossible," his colleague argued, giving Severus a support requesting look.

However, Severus was completely absentminded, feverishly sorting potions ingredients in his head. "Lily of the valley! That's it!" he all of a sudden blurted out, before he noticed his colleagues' questioning glances and explained, "I've been working on a potion to heal his immune system, but something was missing, and it could be that Lily of the valley would work just right for Harry. Please give me twenty minutes, and then we can try if it works. However, in case it won't work, I need you to go through with the immune system spell fairly quickly, otherwise he might not make it."

Twenty minutes later, two Healers stood next to Harry with their wands trained on the boy, ready to cast the spell to kill his immune system, while Healer McKenzie and one of his colleagues prepared themselves to revive his immune system within sub seconds. The hospital wing was completely silent apart from Harry's ragged breathing.

Suddenly, a loud bang disturbed the silence as the door was flung open and Professor Snape hurried into the room, carefully carrying a small phial. He motioned Pomfrey to help him, causing her to raise Harry's head just a bit and prying his mouth open, before he kissed the child's forehead, whispering, "I love you son; please be all right."

"He will be all right," Healer McKenzie said soothingly, hoping to sound more confident than he felt.

Severus poured the potion down his son's throat, massaging his throat to help the unconscious child swallow.

"How will we know if it worked?" someone asked, causing the professor to look up in surprise.

"His fever should come down at least two degrees. Poppy, with his grade of burns he should have a fever of forty degrees at the most, shouldn't he?"

"Yes," Madam Pomfrey confirmed, quickly sliding a wrist band over Harry's right hand to display the boy's temperature on the monitor on the night table next to his bed.

"How long do you expect it will last until the potion takes effect, Severus?" Madam Pomfrey asked, pulling a tear-stricken Minerva into her arms.

Severus sighed. "It shouldn't take more than ten minutes for at least the slightest improvement to take place."

The room became completely silent again, while all eyes were trained on the monitor on Harry's night table.

A monotone, silky voice pulled everyone out of their rigour. "Ten minutes."

"41.9," was displayed on the uncaring, sterile monitor.

Madam Pomfrey let out a deep sigh. "Well, Healer McKenzie..."

"All right," the Head Healer of St. Mungo's replied and exchanged a look with his colleague, who pointed his wand to cast the spell together with him, before he too pointed his wand at the child.

"Stop!" A voice suddenly breached the silence again, causing everyone to look at a young Healer, who pointed to the monitor. "41.8. It just changed. It was 41.9 all the time," she explained excitedly.

"All right, let's wait and see if it'll come down further," Healer McKenzie announced, and everyone spent the next ten minutes watching the monitor again, before they finally turned their eyes to the Healers' pointed wands in frustration.

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HP

_Thanks to MaritimeStars and Kenaz Slytherin for your kind reviews! The next chapter will be the last of this story! _

_I am not a native speaker of English. So please excuse my mistakes – or tell me, so that I can correct them!_

_All recognizable characters belong to J.K.Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story._


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

"No! Don't cast the spell. Look, it's coming down," the young Healer told them a few seconds later, once more pointing to the monitor.

"41.7," Severus read in hopeful amazement, and at the same time as he waved his wand at the child, all of the Healers assembled waved their wands only to sigh in relief.

"Congratulations, Professor Snape, you managed to save your son. His immune system might still be weak in the future, but this is at least a huge improvement. Congratulations, Professor McGonagall, Healer Pomfrey."

"Thanks a lot for your valuable help," Severus gratefully told the Healers and Potion Masters, who happily returned to the hospital.

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Suddenly, a huge noise could be heard from the hall in front of the hospital wing. When Madam Pomfrey hurried towards the door, followed closely by the Headmaster, McGonagall whispered after her, "Poppy, I think you should let Ms. Granger in."

Giving her friend an extremely displeased look, Pomfrey grudgingly agreed and opened the door, where hundreds of students were assembled after hearing that Harry had been injured while trying to save them from the dragon. The Mediwitch told the students to shut up and return to their common rooms. "It was a very close call, but Mr. Potter will survive and be fine in due time. Ms. Granger, you may come in for a minute."

Hermione hesitantly entered the hospital wing, sitting down on the edge of Harry's bed. "Is he unconscious, or is he just asleep?" she asked McGonagall, who gave Snape an enquiring look.

"At the moment he's still unconscious due to his major injuries, but as soon as his fever comes down a bit more, Madam Pomfrey will be able to begin to heal them, and then he should drift off into a normal sleep. He'll definitely not wake up before tomorrow, Ms. Granger. You might as well return to your dormitory."

"No sir. I'll stay here with him," Hermione replied in determination.

"Don't worry, Hermione; Professor Snape, Madam Pomfrey, and I are going to take turns staying with him," Minerva gently told the girl.

Hermione didn't reply anymore, but she didn't let them throw her out, not even Madam Pomfrey, and since the teachers were still shocked by what had happened they didn't fight the stubborn girl.

Harry remained asleep during the whole weekend. Only on Monday morning when Minerva and Hermione were just discussing that Hermione was going to miss her classes if she didn't move from Harry's side, he blinked, causing Hermione to squeak, "Harry! Thank God you're awake!"

"Mione, Mum," Harry mumbled lazily, groaning when he noticed that he was in the hospital wing.

"Do you remember that you fought the dragon, sweetie?" Hermione asked. "You saved many people."

"And you nearly died, Harry. Fortunately, your Dad was able to heal your immune system and save you, but it was very close," Minerva told him in a stern voice.

"Sorry Mum," Harry mumbled, turning his eyes to Minerva.

"Harry, I'm going to get Poppy for you. I'm sorry, but I have classes to teach. Hermione will stay with you, all right?"

"Kay."

Minerva placed a kiss on Harry's forehead and went to fetch Poppy, before she stepped into the fireplace, knowing that she was already two minutes late for her first class.

Madam Pomfrey bustled into the room and checked on Harry. "You gave us quite a fright, young man. Don't do that ever again! Now, I've already tried to give you a potion yesterday and it worked so far. I'm going to apply a healing salve on your burns, which will be uncomfortable, but I can't help it."

Hermione sat on Harry's other side to be out of the Healer's way and begun to cuddle with her boyfriend to divert his attention from the pain that Pomfrey was inflicting to his side. She gently stroked his flushed cheeks for a while, whispering, "I love you, sweetie, and I'm so relieved that you made it."

"I love you too, Mione," Harry whispered back, slightly relaxing under Hermione's caressing hands.

"Thanks Harry," Hermione replied happily and pulled him into a long kiss, watching the Mediwitch's doing from the corner of her eyes.

Harry had to spend a week in the hospital wing, and during that time, Hermione refused vehemently to leave his side. Not even her Head of House's daily reminder that she was missing all of her classes brought her away from her boyfriend's bed. Madam Pomfrey grudgingly allowed her to sleep in the bed next to Harry's, seeing that Hermione was stubborn enough to rest in the chair next to Harry's bed during the whole first night.

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As relieved as his adoptive parents were that Harry was alive and that Severus had been able to finally heal his immune system, so that his body accepted potions and healing spells again, as angry they were that he had placed himself into so much danger.

"Harry, you will be grounded from all Hogsmeade excursions until the end of your seventh year," Severus told him sternly.

"What? But that's nearly the only time where Hermione and I can do something for ourselves," Harry replied in an upset voice.

"Harry, don't be stupid," Minerva snapped. "You're the only student at Hogwarts, who owns his own room. You can be here with your girlfriend whenever you want, can't you? You will be grounded and spend the evenings and nights here instead of the Gryffindor tower until the end of this school year anyway."

"Okay," Harry sighed. "I'm sorry. May Hermione still visit me here even if I'm grounded?" he asked in a small voice.

"Yes Harry," Minerva replied softly, not wanting to punish Harry further by keeping his girlfriend from him.

During the next months, Hermione and Harry spent all the evenings in Harry's room studying together until Hermione had to head back to Gryffindor in time for curfew. They also spent time cuddling whenever they knew that neither McGonagall nor Snape were in their living rooms, which were just next to Harry's room.

At the end of the school year, Harry asked, "Hermione, do you think you could come and visit me for a few weeks? I can't stand the thought of being separated from you for more than two months."

"We have to ask your parents," Hermione replied. "I don't want to go home either."

Minerva laughed and promised to speak with Hermione's parents and agreed with them that Hermione had to spend the first and the last week of the holidays at home.

"Since students are not allowed to remain at Hogwarts over the holidays, you're here as Harry's girlfriend and as such you have to stay in my guest room," Minerva gently told Hermione when the girl arrived back at Hogwarts after the first week of holidays.

"Won't you mind, Professor?" Hermione asked softly, shooting the teacher a disbelieving glance.

"No Hermione, I don't mind. Please try to keep Harry out of trouble," Minerva smirked.

"I will," the girl promised.

Harry and Hermione enjoyed their time together a lot, although Hermione noticed a few weeks into the holidays that something seemed to bother Harry. However, as much as she tried to find out what was wrong, Harry insisted that everything was all right. On the day before his birthday, he asked Minerva, who always shooed Hermione and Harry to bed at curfew, if they could stay up until midnight. Minerva laughed and agreed.

A few minutes before midnight, Harry ushered Hermione into his room and motioned her to sit down on his bed, before he said as casually as possible in order not to stutter, "Mione, I'd like you to become my wife next year when we finish Hogwarts."

"Thank you Harry," Hermione agreed, looking amazed at the beautiful ring with a Celtic design that Harry slipped on her finger. "I'd love to become your wife, sweetie."

Mere seconds later, Minerva looked around the corner. "May we come in, birthday boy?"

"You may. Hermione just agreed to become my wife," Harry replied happily.

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Later the same day when everyone was having breakfast in the Great Hall, Professor Dumbledore asked Harry and Hermione to come into his office for two minutes right after the meal.

"I have to ask you something that might affect your future plans," the Headmaster said gently, offering a lemon drop to the young couple. "Professor Flitwick told me that he wants to retire in a year. He suggested you, Harry, as his successor as Charms teacher. At the same time, I'd like to let Professor Binns get some well earned rest and offer the position as History of Magic teacher to Hermione. You don't have to reply right now; all that I ask for is that you think about the matter," the Headmaster concluded his speech.

Hermione and Harry exchanged a glance, before Harry replied, "We don't have to think about it, Professor. We'd both love to accept the positions offered."

"Of course, Headmaster," Hermione agreed smiling, before she pulled Harry into a kiss that was accompanied by Fawkes' happy trilling.

**The End**

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Well, that was another story, which I intended as a one-shot and noticed that it became longer and longer! If you took the time to read through until here, please be so kind and spend a few seconds more to leave a few words for me – I'd be so happy!_

_As you know, I'm not a native speaker of English; please excuse my mistakes or tell me, so that I can correct them._

_All recognizable characters belong to __Mrs. Rowling__, and I am not earning anything by writing this story._


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